When you’re a business owner it’s so easy to slip into auto-pilot mode. You know your job, you know what you’re doing, and everything is so familiar. It’s just like when you’re driving sometimes and your mind wanders and then you suddenly realise you’ve been driving for the last 5 minutes. Just as routine can be dangerous when you’re driving, routine can also affect the way you do business. When you slip into auto-pilot mode you’re not at your sharpest and there’s no doubt that you can drop the ball, lose your competitive edge and miss out on opportunities.
So how can you avoid this?
Well, it’s about being awake in your business. More often than not, we can be in what’s known as ‘waking sleep’ in philosophical terms. This means that whilst we are functioning in our business and carrying out regular activities, we’re not awakened to the opportunities and solutions around us.
If you’re honest with yourself can you always say that you’re focused on the long-term, that you don’t procrastinate and delay important business decisions and seize opportunities when they present themselves?
We’re all guilty of it and the answer is accepting it and taking action. It will come as no surprise that there will be things in your business that you don’t like doing. These things will drag you down, de-motivate you and prevent you from taking positive action. This is where you need to examine and accept what’s holding you back and then determine what can be done about them. This might mean hiring new staff, delegating more, outsourcing or even stopping to do a particular activity because it adds no real value.
Once you have released some of the burdens that hold you back, the clearer your thoughts will be and the more your senses will be heightened to new opportunities and driving your business forward.
To stay awake in your business you sometimes need to set a mental-alarm that shakes you out of auto-pilot mode. If you don’t, you can easily steer off course…
