Let’s talk a little about that issue. Same old, same old,
different day! I’ll bet the year flew by and you ran out of time to make the
changes to your life to become “who you wanted to become.” Life moves quickly,
daily emergencies come up; insignificant tasks are on your lists, others use up
your time and on it goes until the day is over. Then the week is over, then the
month is over, and finally it’s a new year and you haven’t become “who you
wanted to become.”
As a businessman, you have a list of things you need to accomplish
each day you arrive at your business. That list could be on paper, on your cell
phone, on your computer, in your head, or in a planner. Of course the list is
long and daily you have a number of items you just don’t get to start or
finish. Those items seem to keep rolling forward to the next day, the next
week, or the next month. These often are the things we need to be doing to
become “who you want to become.”
You also have a calendar with things scheduled for certain
dates
and times.These could be meetings, seminars, conventions, vacation, kid’s
ball games, a social event or perhaps a golf outing. Most of these are based on
outside influences and demands. When you take a close look at your calendar,
you find that there is little or no time left for “who you wanted to become.”
"Whether you think that
you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
Henry Ford
Schedule
less about what to get done than who you want to become!
To become “who you want to become”, requires a commitment of
time, energy and perhaps money. Let’s look at a couple of possible examples. We’ll
look at a business related scenario and a personal related scenario.
Business
You would like to grow your business but since you came up
as a Technician, you really don’t really understanding of the financial side of
your business. You have said you need to do something about that but another
year has gone by and you’re not making any more that you did when you worked
for someone else. Then another year goes by and the same thing all over again!
Time for a timeout! Time to put a couple of hours aside (your business won’t
fail if you do this). You need to analyze the options. You could go a local
junior college and take classes in finance and accounting. You could take some
online classes in finance and accounting. This is not the best option since it’s
too easy to sluff it off and never get the financial understanding you need to
improve your business. You could hire a business coach to work with you in your
business and teach you the fundamentals of finance and accounting. These are
just a couple of options. Surely there are more.
Now comes the hard part. You must change your life in some
way to accomplish this goal no matter which choice you make to move forward. To
truly become “who you want to become” you will need to put a much higher
priority on understanding the financial side of your business than you might
have in the past. If you take classes at a junior college, you will need to
attend the classes (time), do the studying and assignments (energy), and pay
for the classes (money). The same would apply if you took online classes with
the exception that it would require a lot more energy to learn what is needed
that a classroom setting. If you hired a business coach, time, energy and a lot
more money would be involved to get the understanding that you need. The upside
is there would be someone right there with you as problems and concerns arose.
Change is required to become “who you want to become.”
There is one more issue to keep in mind and that is balance
in your life. You still need time, energy and money for your personal life of
family, friends, home, and recreation.
Personal
You enjoy playing golf with some friends and you’re able to
play 9 holes 2-3 times a month with
them. Your handicap is 25 and has been for
years. In fact a couple of years ago it was 23 so you have slipped a little. Some
weekends you’re able to watch an hour or so of the PGA Pros play and deep down
you would like to play more like them. You realize you’re a contractor and not
a golf pro but a score in the low to mid 80’s would be a dream for you. For
this dream to come true, you would need to commit a heck of a lot more time,
energy and money to achieve that dream!
This will require ongoing lessons and coaching for as long
as several years to change your game on a consistent basis. This is a real
money, energy and time commitment. It would also require hours and hours at the
driving range to practice what you have been taught, more time energy and
money. And it will also require playing much more frequently to maintain the consistency
and feel to shoot the lower scores and become “who you want to become.”
Here also there is another issue to keep in mind and that is
balance in your life. You still need time, energy and money for your personal
life of family, friends, home, recreation and your business.
It's a New
Year
So as we start a new
year, are you going to become “who you want to become” or are you going to
repeat last year and the year before and the year before that? You decide!
Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50
years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning
service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in
the service business to grow and prosper.
