3 Ways We Sabotage Success

It's the 13th of November and we officially have about 6 weeks left in 2018. Many of us are starting to put pencil to paper setting goals for 2019.

We've all been there. We press ourselves (or our bosses press us) to have lofty goals, we say them out loud and then...

We invent 1,063,247 excuses why we can't/won't/shouldn't get our a** in gear and just do what we intended to do.

Procrastination leads to stagnation leads to resignation.

And no matter how terrific our goals sound, we just...can't...seem...to...get..........there.

In my work I see this situation every day. A professional says they want to become partner, make more money, start a new business or get more involved in the community only to burn out soon after they've left the gate.

There are 3 reasons for this: FEAR, A DISTORTED DEFINITION OF SUCCESS and A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF ONE'S INDIVIDUAL VALUE PROPOSITION.

FEAR: Fear is behind just about everything we do. It drives us to work so our families don't starve, it pushes us into the dating scene so we're not lonely, and it compels us to fasten our seatbelts for fear of injury or death. If someone else defines our goals for us (which often happens in the professional services, financial services and non-profit worlds), we face either the fear of disappointing our supervisors (and losing our jobs) and/or the fear of not knowing how to do what we are charged with doing. Instead of asking for help or openly admitting our struggle with the assigned task, our fear pushes us to either fake our efforts or just plain hide, hoping no one will notice. And the fear that comes from a mismanaged relationship with risk is often the culprit when it comes to aspiring entrepreneurs that trade their vision for another "safe" paycheck.

If we don't learn to recognize our "fear tigers", we will never realize that they are not made of sharp teeth and flesh-ripping claws, but are indeed made of origami paper.

SUCCESS OR SUCK-CESS: When we feel pressure to set big goals we tend to lose touch with all of the smaller goals we need to hit on our path to the big one. Large numbers sound great, but if the goal is too big to wrap our practical minds around, it's just too abstract for us to truly own. We focus all our attention on the giant prize without taking the time to define all of the smaller goodies we will land along the way. In other words, we cannot hope to hit the big ones out of the park unless we define the smaller successes we will accomplish just by sticking to a carefully crafted plan.

If my goal is to generate a million dollars of new business and I hope to get there just by randomly increasing my networking efforts, throwing a few posts on social media and casually asking a few friends for referrals, the million dollars ends up being just a pipe dream. But hey, it sounded great, right? On the other hand, if I pay close attention to all of the "little" things I have to do to move toward my big goal, I have an exponentially better chance at making some great money. These "little things" represent intentional steps; setting a specific number of meetings, measuring the outcome of each, using the information to improve other business development activities, sticking to a strict branding plan, paying attention to the profitability of each potential client, etc...and then executing on all and celebrating each and every success, no matter how small.

WHAT'S YOUR VALUE: If we're putting tons of pressure on ourselves to do magical things but we've not taken the time to understand, define and articulate the unique value that we provide, we will never get to where we want to go.

How can we hope to be effective in whatever we're doing if we are not 100% clear on why we're doing it and what we bring to the table to get it done spectacularly well?

Defining - and owning - our individual value propositions is absolutely essential for growing smart and reaching each and every goal we set for ourselves.

• Are you marinating on an idea but just can't seem to figure out how to make things happen?
• Is your boss pressing you to present a "marketing plan" for next year and you're getting ready to just throw some numbers down on paper to get them off your back?
• Are you looking for creative and budget-friendly ways to grow your small business to make 2019 the year to beat?
• Do you care about contributing to the community in an impactful way but are unsure how to do so or what your contribution might look like?

StrategyHorse can help you to take the reins with our individual coaching, unique workshops, engaging presentations or our popular growth strategy sessions.

Contact us to learn about our end of year specials or sign up directly using this link.

Wendy Merrill is the Founder & Chief Rainmaker of StrategyHorse Consulting Group. Her practice helps Impact-Oriented Rising Leaders to be more successful, empowering them to be stakeholders in the improvement of the workplace and community. Wendy is finishing her first book, a guide for Rising Leaders who want to be impactful and grow smart. Stay tuned for more info and a projected release date of early 2019!

Learn more:

WEBSITE TWITTER