Success is non-negotiable for you as an entrepreneur. And you have plenty of good habits that are leading you there right now: your drive and creativity being two examples.
However, since building an empire is exciting and daunting, you might have accumulated a few bad habits. Whether you have all 7 of them or just one, it’s time to cut them out.
So let’s look at what they are and how to change them.
1. Overscheduling yourself
Do you have a vast weekly to-do list that never gets fully completed? How do you feel each day when you look at it and know that most likely, you won’t be able to cross too many things off?
The overscheduling usually stems from two leading causes:
a. Most people tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a week or a day but underestimate what they can do in a year;
b. Many people have a hard time saying ‘NO’ to various opportunities, other people’s requests, etc.
The result?
A busy schedule that feels like a hamster spinning wheel with never-ending tasks not leading to desired results.
So, to stop the vicious cycle and become more effective, it’s time you got clear on your priorities and started saying no to everything else. It’s time not only to create a to-do-list’ but also to prioritize and schedule the things on it into your calendar. The calendar will quickly tell you that it’s full and has no more room for anything else.
2. Wasting TONS of time scrolling through social media
Have you ever caught yourself wanting to check one thing on your business Instagram account but then “woke up” a while later to realize that from one post to another, instead of working on a client project, you just wasted 45 mins?
Or even worse, you were scrolling thru FB groups’ posts and fell into a comparison trap, making you feel like a fraud that will never achieve the results and dream that everyone around you seems to already have?
This one is one of the worst habits ever. Not only does is consume time like a dragon, but it also makes you feel small, unimportant, and kills the enthusiasm and motivation to work on your dream businesses!
So it’s time to use social media only intentionally. Use your good habit from above and schedule intentional social media time into your calendar. We’re all marketing online, and yes, it’s important to participate n conversations happening there, esp. with your ideal clients. Still, you need to be in control of social media and not the other way around. You need to use them for your benefit, not your demise.
3. Not creating systems and routines
I get it, it’s hard to create systems in your business when it’s very new, and everything changes daily. However, more businesses fail because they cannot scale fast enough when real clients’ boom comes (from the hard work they do at the start-up phase) than from lack of clients.
So you want to be different. You want to think of systems in parallel to getting new clients. You want to think of ways to do things better and organized every time you add a client. It will benefit you and also add value to them.
And as far as good routines go, they apply to you as a holistic person and the most critical asset of your business.
Do you have a self-care routine? Do you ensure you are active each day and nourish your mind, body, and soul? Do you have a routine that helps you reduce stress, ground you, and bring calm to the everyday?
It’s not difficult to establish a few simple good habits; it’s fun and has massive positive effects on your performance and results.
4. Putting off self-development
I often hear and see entrepreneurs saying: “well, I don’t have any money to invest in myself now”, “I’ll do it when I get some clients.” But yet, they don’t know how to get the clients, and they’re putting away the very skills that will help them with that.
Or another excuse, I’m too busy to learn. This one reminds me of the story. A man was trying to cut a tree with a dull saw. He was so busy working hard that he didn’t have time to sharpen it. Another man did the opposite and finished the task in half the time.
Delaying your focus on the essential things in our business also delays the results you are working so hard to achieve.
So now that you know that, what are you going to do differently?
5. Analysis-paralysis
While trying to focus on too many things at once isn’t great, obsessing about making one thing perfect sits on the opposite spectrum of bad habits. If you work on one thing too long, trying to make it perfect, you’ll find yourself behind your competition. Too much analysis leads to paralysis.
Making your ideas good enough is good enough to release them to the market. As your customers try them, their feedback is an effective way to test the ideas for viability, get some income early, and improve on them.
6. Being too risk-averse
This bad habit is weaved together with the previous two. When you are risk-averse, you are scared to invest. Too scared to invest money in your self-development, technology or anything else that can help you grow your business.
No business grows without taking some risks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to be reckless. I’m saying you need to be strategic, assess the risk, and make the final decision.
Say yes to things that are right for your business. Yes, indeed, they require the investment of time, money, and other resources, and the return is not 100% guaranteed. But really, what is?
7. Being reactive instead of proactive
When you don’t have the right systems and habits, it’s tough to be proactive. You get into a day to day spinning wheel and become too busy to plan and be strategic.
But without strategy and proactivity, you allow things to happen to you, not for you. You lose control of the course your business takes. You become stressed and, at some point, may burn out.
Ensure to spend time away from day to day duties to think about where you want your business to be in the near future. Become clear on how you want to get there. Develop a plan and break it down to know each month, each week, and each day what you’re going to do.
When you get to that point and combine it with a good habit from point 1, you’ll achieve more in a month than some people accomplish in a year! Don’t believe me? Schedule a free brainstorming session with me here, and I’ll show you how you can do it.
