Business

Success is what you want for you and your business, isn’t it? Although success means different things to different people, there are some ingredients that are necessary to have in the mix. One of the most important ingredients is being effective as a businessperson. So, whether your business is small or large, new or growing, you need to be effective.

Being effective is doing the ‘right’ things well. Now, it’s simple to say that you’re choosing to be more effective, but following this through with actually being effective isn’t always easy. It’s a journey and there will be roadblocks along the way. First you’ll need to identify these obstacles and beware, because they’re not always obvious and not always easy to identify. After all, your ego will be kicking and screaming to keep you where you are. Your ego doesn’t want you to change and will do everything it can to stop you and this is often done in very subtle ways.

Being more effective will require you to be more self-aware and to observe what’s going on. This isn’t an opportunity to give yourself a hard time or to keep asking why. That gets you nowhere. It’s an opportunity to observe with detachment, notice things and then choose different actions.

So, what do you notice that blocks you from being effective? One possible obstacle is what a friend and I have nicknamed the ‘Dog With a Bone Syndrome’. You know how when a dog starts gnawing on a bone he doesn’t want to let go at all. Well, as people, we can be similar when we’re faced either with a problem or we’re doing something that clearly isn’t working. We keep on trying to do something about it, change it or resolve it, but it doesn’t seem to matter what we do, nothing changes and progress certainly isn’t being made. In trying to do something about it our ‘mind chatter’ kicks in and adds to it with ‘Just try one more thing,’ ‘Perhaps you just need more information’ or ‘I’m sure the solution will come soon’. These are all ways in which your ego tries to keep you stuck where you are and not change.

All the time your ego is keeping you here, you’re not moving towards being more effective. When you keep ‘trying’ you’re like the dog hanging on to the bone for dear life. This stifles your creativity and your own ability to come up with answers and solutions. You’re attached to this too tightly and need to let it go. Your ego will fight to stop you from letting go. It can be interesting to observe this fight within yourself. You need to shift from your ego and conscious mind, to your body and sense of being. To shift here, you need to be totally present and to let all thoughts go. When you’re finally able to let it go, it will come back when the time is right and solutions will appear. I find this particularly if I let something go prior to sleeping. The answers or ideas are often there clearly for me when I awake.

I invite you to be more effective and take a few minutes to answer these questions for yourself. What you need to let go of so that you can be more effective? What is currently going on for you that’s making you struggle or try too hard? If you let this go, what different actions do you need to take?

Increase your self-awareness so that you notice and observe the obstacles, and then choose different actions. Your level of effectiveness will increase and affect the level of your business success.

Wendy works with business owners to be more effective and successful, achieving a more profitable business in less time. Click through to her site http://www.business-personal-coaching.com and read more of Wendy’s articles and about how business coaching can take your business to the next level.

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