Step back and see clearly

Have you ever noticed that the closer you look at something the more out of focus it gets?  Try holding your business card at the end of your nose and reading it and you’ll see what I mean. 

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we all get stuck into our businesses and we often live and breathe every aspect of our baby, but occasionally we get too involved and all too often to our detriment.  We pay lip service to the advice of others.  We get hung up on the small niggling things that overwhelm us.  We worry about everything with the same degree of importance from the cost of paperclips, to losing a new client pitch. We unnecessarily criticize our performance.  We have easy habits.  If you have a few days like this every week, then it’s time to make change and step back from the coalface.  The value to you and your business in doing this can be immense.

So here’s a thought, step away from your business and see how much clearer it will appear.  Here are 20 top tips for getting a clearer picture.  Do all or some of the following:

1. Go on holiday!
2. Take a day off and write down all the things you can do differently
3. Go to a museum or an art gallery for a whole day and use a dictaphone to record your thoughts on what you might do differently when you get back to work
4. Turn off your phone for 3 days
5. Listen to your own voicemail recording and see if it is due for a change
6. Deactivate your email account for a week
7. Don’t read anything for a week
8. Stop using social media for a week
9. Try writing a quote or proposal from scratch using only your memory
10. Go and talk to a perfect stranger about your business challenges (an entrepreneurs coach perhaps!!)
11. Write a story about your business journey so far
12. Write down your top 5 specific business challenges
13. Get yourself a coach
14. Change the layout of your workspace
15. Create a diversion day at work – fancy dress, job swaps, rent a new office for a day, create an improvement wall for ideas
16. Write down 20 things you could do differently in your business
17. Buy a brand new notepad and pen
18. Try rewriting your to do list without looking at the existing one
19. Ring your first ever client and ask why they bought from you
20. Ask your bank manager what they would do if they ran your company

You may also find it easier if you discussed these thoughts with someone, so why not do exactly that.  Nobody is expecting you to have all of the answers and maybe this is where an Executive Coach can help you.  If you feel stuck, then why not give me a call and let’s explore what’s possible; you may be surprised in what you discover.