Business, like life and marriage, is full of irony at times. You know how what attracted you to your spouse is what LATER drives you crazy? The same scenario is at work in your business.
The exhilarating potential in your business that had you waking up early, staying up late and feeling giddy with excitement CAN become a very cruel master indeed. Here’s how it CAN –but doesn’t have to — work:
The more you BELIEVE in your potential, the more blatant and painful a reminder it can be of how far you are FROM REACHING that potential. The more you BELIEVE in what’s possible for you, the more frustrated you can become when you see obstacles and delays and challenges. The more you EMBRACE your potential, the crueler the distance can seem between where you are NOW and where you SHOULD be. The more IN LOVE you are with your potential, the more discouraging the reality of your “today” can feel.
Maybe you’ve been there. If you have, you know first hand how your potential can work AGAINST you. Here’s the solution:
1) Get really clear about what you believe your potential REALLY is. Write it down. Nothing vague about what you’re capable of creating in your business is allowed.
2) Make sure what you wrote down is REALLY your fully-expressed potential. And make sure it is REALLY (really) what you want.
Now, it’s time to start building a bridge.
3) Start with the stakes you’ll put in the ground between where you are now and where your potential will lead you. These stakes are your milestones. Create at least TEN milestones between where you are right now and your end goal. THIS is where you’ll “plan backwards.”
4) Once you have your milestones identified, start building out from ground zero. What will it take to get from where you are right now to your FIRST milestone. THIS is where you plan forward.
No need to go on to milestone TWO:
- UNTIL you’re at least 1/2 way to milestone one; and / or
- UNLESS these milestones can be accomplished simultaneously.
Potential CAN be a cruel master, but as long as you’re pursuing your potential in PHASES and with a PLAN, it can be the wind beneath your wings. Here’s to the latter.
