How do you motivate yourself when it is all down to you?

How do you motivate yourself when it is all down to you?

The bad news is; It’s down to you.

The good news is; It’s down to you!

Joe Morris (er.. me!)

OK Champions of Small Businessers… At time of writing it’s Monday (ugh), 29th of the month, and I sit here facing a pile of receipts (stuff to reconcile), bills (stuff to either pay, procrastinate, or parley), and the joys of preparing the end of month admin for our team.

Does any of the above sound familiar?

When you run your own business, large, medium, or small, you will have often come across the ‘It’s down to me’ feeling when something (usually unpleasant) needs to be done.

In a larger organisation, often roles are defined or delegated in such a way that even if decision making rests on a single person’s shoulders, execution is split.

If you work for yourself, or are the leader of a small team, everything falls to yourself once it reaches a certain threshold.

When this happens, it can often lead to feelings of dread, overwhelm, why-am-doing-this-ness, – yeah, that should be a word, as well as procrastination, delaying or trying to avoid.

There is a simple trick to stop this in it’s tracks however. Simple, with a caveat, in that it is a habit which you will need to consciously focus on initially, however will get easier with time and practice. It doesn’t solve the problems, or eliminate you from having to do what needs to be done, – but it changes how you start to approach, and think about it.

Swap: ‘I have/ need/ must do…’

Instead, say: ‘I get to…’

That’s it. (That will be €2,000 for mindset consulting please! 🙂 )

Say the phrase ‘I get to..’ whenever you feel yourself talking yourself out of a task, or just even feel like not doing what needs to be done. (Cough – expenses. Weekly accounts!)

Ohh… Warren would like an article on Champtions of Small Business – say no more….

Depending on what it is –
– someone else would LOVE your problems!

Fed up keeping track of every little receipt for your business?

Guess what, the person in the office block across the road getting chewed out of it each day by a fearful and incompetent boss would swap in a heartbeat.

The person who has tried all, given his/her heart and 100% and yet still not succeeded (yet) at their own business, would love to swap.

3:30 AM and your 6 week old baby is crying (again), and you have had zero restful sleep for the past month or two? You get to hold them, or give them a feed.

There are hundreds of thousands hopeful parents across the world who are trying for a child who would swap in a second.

Whatever you are facing, in most cases, others would love your problem.

This isn’t a blanket statement – don’t read it wrong and start commenting.

There are clearly many situations in life where there is no upside. In those, cases, it is best to remember Winston Churchill’s comment that when you are going through hell – keep going!

The main issue when you are running your own business, is that the lines between business and personal get blurred.

It’s not ‘just business’.

Often, beside the day to day humdrum tasks where there is no-one else to do, and when your team members have clocked off for the day, you are still there. Doing what needs to be done.

Its what we do.

You GET TO….

  • Chase a late paying client. (You have clients, that pay – maybe not on time, but you have a pipeline)
  • Worry about keeping your expenses in line and accounted for – you get to claim back business expenses before tax. (Doesn’t need to be that way from a tax system point of view)
  • Fire a person who isn’t pulling their weight – you probably have not taken the decision lightly but you, and your team’s future are in your control, not someone elses!

Its down to your Attitude, and how you view it.

So, takeaway from this, using the 1,2,3 Step model:
(Awareness, Attention, Action)…

Awareness: Stop sabotaging your thinking.

Attention: Next time you catch yourself thinking, ‘I need to…’, try ‘I get to’, and then try picture the type of person who would ‘love’ to have your problem.

Action: Give yourself a week to consciously try this approach. Do it with everything. Especially the small stuff. The first step towards changing a habit.

Keep going!

Hope this helps,

Joe

PS. Right, back to what I personally get to do right now, and hammer through the list of invoices I get to chase! 🙂

Joe Morris