As a business owner, you’ve got to make decisions.
When to launch your new product, which hosting package to buy for your website, what staffing plan to build, which events to attend – even when (and whether) to post on LinkedIn.
Every day, new decisions to make, new directions to choose.
Pretty soon, you get faster at it, and more decisive. Uncertainty fades away.
In its place comes conviction: creating momentum, and helping you get things done.
But what if that very same conviction could be leading you into trouble?
What if uncertainty – and even failure – is the ultimate mindset for a successful business owner?
Isn’t Certainty… Brilliant?
Running a business of any size is no mean feat. It takes huge amounts of commitment, determination and resilience. Like raising a family, it demands that you give large chunks of your life over to another being. And it can eat up your time (and money!) faster than any living thing.
With so many paths to choose from, and so many tasks on your to-do list, inertia isn’t an option. Certainty is a necessity.
For a business owner overloaded with decisions to make, certainty is a necessity. But it can also leave you stuck chasing old habits – stopping you from seeing opportunities that are right in front of you.
Now, I’m not about to suggest that your decision-making needs to get blurrier. In most cases, certainty is exactly what you need to be successful.
But at other times certainty can close things down. It can stop you from asking useful questions about the choices that you’re making. It can limit your imagination, and it can stop you from spotting opportunities, even when they’re right in front of you.
The Power of Being Wrong
As business owners, there’s no surprise we can be pretty terrified of getting things wrong.
Not only can this be embarrassing or time-consuming, but it can also be costly. Wasted effort, or wasted investment can have a real impact on your business success.
And so, we play it safe. But this fear can be a double-edged sword. It can protect us, but it can also:
- Stop us from taking full advantage of opportunities
- Make it harder to see the bigger picture
- Encourage us to bury our heads in the sand when things don’t quite go to plan
- Inhibit us from noticing when we need to evolve, or pivot
On the other hand, being wrong – or being uncertain – can be a powerful thing.
When We’re Wrong, We Look For Answers
When we think of ‘professional development’, those of us with any corporate experience can be forgiven for turning pale and breaking a sweat.
It brings with it an image of a dull, grey conference room, with a trainer droning on about something we’re already pretty expert at.
So instead, let’s bring ‘professional development’ out of the dark, and look at it under a new light.
For me, it’s almost more an attitude than a programme. It’s about looking at your skills, assessing your practices, and constantly striving for better.
Professional development is more of an attitude than a programme.
In this fresh way, professional development becomes about seeking some of that uncertainty which once made our decisions original, bold, and transformational.
How Can I Find Time to Strive for Better?!
Now, it wouldn’t be realistic to expect you to do this kind of work every day. Or even necessarily every week.
But in all likelihood an attitude in which you embrace your knowledge and skills gaps is probably what got your business to where it is today.
So it’s essential to find a way, somewhere, that you can do it.
For some, that’s a simple morning habit, assessing assumptions and checking whether they still hold true.
For others, a more concentrated spell revisiting ‘the known knowns’ in a methodical manner can be more powerful.
And for my clients – and many others besides – it’s about finding a business soulmate who understands what you’re struggling with. Someone who can help you see the wood for the trees: a business coach to reflect and bounce ideas off.
Try This: Find More Ways to Be Wrong
I’ll leave you with this thought-experiment: Find more ways to be wrong. That is, actively try to catch yourself out. Identify processes that don’t sit right any more, assumptions about your customers that need updating, or self-imposed limitations that you can overcome.
It sounds counterintuitive, but finding more ways to be wrong can unlock some incredible revelations.
We spend so much time working in our businesses, isn’t it right you find some time to work on it too?
Kind Regards,
Chris