All too often we find a businessperson isn’t doing something in their business—taking some action that is critical to their success, something they know in their hearts they should be doing. Without strong mentorship or coaching we find that they may choose a path that doesn’t allow for growth. They perceive this to be an easier path, as it carries no apparent or immediate COST.
But there IS a cost—a deferred cost. The cost is a long painful death spiral for their business.
We’ve identified 3 WAYS that you can deal with the critical actions and tasks in your business. These are logically the ONLY 3 actions you can take. (Hint, hint…only one of them will move your business and career forward)
JUSTIFY
Let’s suppose that there’s a critical action you need to take to move your business forward. It can be that you need to make a key hire and delegate some responsibility to them. It may be that you need to let someone go. (Fire someone) It may be that you know that your pipeline is empty, and you need to roll up your sleeves and get back to the business of filling it.
It doesn’t really matter what the action is, if you begin to justify why you aren’t doing it or why it’s not possible to do it, you are screwed. This is the first way I find people deal with an important issue that isn’t getting done, fixed or accomplished. Justification!
It usually sounds like this:
“I really need to make that key hire, but good people are hard to find, and we failed last time we hired a person in this capacity, and we’re not sure what compensation plan to use, and we don’t have a set budget yet, and we are gun-shy to assign key clients to an unproven person, and we should probably wait until the economy is better…and, and, and…”
Like we said, it doesn’t matter what the issue is. Justification always sounds much the same, and it accomplishes absolutely nothing and it’s a horrible habit to get into and it sounds really weak.
When you justify why you are not taking the proper actions in your business you usually wind up assigning many, many other third party factors as the reasons that a thing can’t or shouldn’t be done. You spend an incredible amount of time and energy trying to prove or show those around you that your lack of initiative is reasonable.
Instead of wasting your time and valuable energy justifying things, shouldn’t you channel all of that time and energy into figuring out HOW to get the right things accomplished in your business?
IGNORE
This is, by far, the weirdest and most dangerous path you can take.
By definition, if you ignore taking action to fix, improve or accomplish a critical thing in your business, you are intentionally refusing to acknowledge something you know is a problem, challenge or an opportunity.
By the way, if you choose to ignore stuff, we won’t be your coach for long.
We’re not going to spend any time on this category. If you do this on a regular basis you are really not very bright and you should not try to be a entrepreneur or leader.
You should probably learn the 6 words that will serve you well for the rest of your career, “Would you like fries with that?”
OWN IT
Okay…now we’re talking.
Of course, this is the only way to deal with stuff if you’re a true entrepreneur. If there is a problem, challenge, action, task, opportunity…anything you should be doing, fixing, improving or seizing upon, then you need to OWN IT! It’s easy to say, “Okay, I want to Own it,” but, what does “Own it” really mean? It’s very simple in our way of thinking.
If we have an issue in front of us, regardless of what it is, we do and don’t do the following things:
We Don’t:
- Assign blame, fault or responsibility to random third parties
- Look at reasons why something CAN’T be accomplished
- Try to prove or show others why a thing can’t be done
- Sweep issues under the rug
- Operate with a fixed mindset
We Do:
- Clearly identify the issue at hand
- Put it into a category
- Critical task
- Necessary action
- Opportunity
- Threat
- Decide WHAT action needs to be taken
- Determine HOW the action should be facilitated
- Calendar WHEN to move forward
- Take the action outlined
- See it to its end
When you look at our list of what, “We Do,” there is a subtle theme. The key theme is about making a decision. People that operate successfully in an entrepreneurial venture are those that are decisive. Obviously, kicking the can down the street by use of justification (it’s someone else’s fault), or by simply ignoring it, doesn’t get the job done. There is no decision made to move the business forward. The (perceived) easier paths are taken.
And results are deadly.
“People that operate successfully in an entrepreneurial venture are those that are decisive.”
So, when there’s something sitting in front of you—something you know you need to do or take action on—fight the natural tendency to justify it or ignore it. Instead, simply ask yourself, “How can I OWN IT?”
Go over to www.accelerator.mentumm.com join our community and watch your business results change for the better!
Author: Joe Buzzello & Tom Healy
Joe Buzzello & Tom Healy are the Co-Founders of mentumm and have a shared mission to help entrepreneurs grow faster and have a greater impact on the world.