Is It An Opportunity Or Is It A Distraction !!

“Everything that glitters is not Gold” – we all know this. As an entrepreneur do you follow and adapt this rule in business? Or are you a victim of the shiny object syndrome? Do you ever say a “No” to anything in business or do you just say a “Yes” to everything in business. Are you able to distinguish between an Opportunity and a Distraction?

Every distraction seems like an opportunity. And then there are some entrepreneurs like me for whom there is never a distraction. I am a nurturer by nature and am driven by the fact that I need to add value to small and mid sized businesses. So I did this for a long time whether anyone needed the advice or not. I had become a “Yes Addict”! Saying yes too often to others and saying no too often to myself. I have since then been to the Rehab centre and cured myself. I live my life true to myself rather than a life that anyone else expects of me.

There is also that entrepreneur who is worried to say No as he thinks he might lose something very important. It might cost him business, maybe he might lose his existing customer, maybe this is once in a life time opportunity and he might never get one again. That’s a mindset of scarcity. This entrepreneur is driven by the fact that may be there is not enough out there for everyone. For such an entrepreneur there are only opportunities and nothing seems to be a distraction. This according to me is a completely distracted entrepreneur with no focus whatsoever

Focus is about saying no. It is a single minded pursuit of what you are doing. Let me correct – single minded pursuit of a single thing. You can’t pursue 5 things together with single minded focus. It is not going to happen! Focus happens when you know what you stand for. Do you really know what you are passionate about ? What drives you ? What are your personal values ?. Once you know this then you can make a super commitment to working on that potential of yours and it is easy for you to differentiate between an opportunity and a distraction.

Establish your boundaries and put premium on your time and say No to anything that is not aligned with what you want to achieve. Become a “Zen Master” at saying “No” and your business and personal life will thrive.