You’ve started off well. You have a business plan/strategy/goals. An action list as long as your arm and the power and motivation of an olympic body builder. Your neighbours can hear your roar from across the street. A day, a week, a month later, something throws you off course. It could be anything. Maybe your goals were too ambitious and you’re not seeing the success you thought. Maybe you’ve started your business on the side and work has gotten busy. It could be any number of things and it is pretty normal. But how do you regain that motivation when you’ve lost your mojo?
There a few things that you need to do from the outset when you put together your strategy/plan/goals. A few questions you need to ask and take the time to answer. I know you’ll be excited to get started and want to skip them, but they are crucial to your long term success.
1. Do you want this goal? This sounds like a strange question, but the number of people I have worked with that find half way through their plan, they realise this isn’t what they really wanted. So take a moment, visualise achieving the goal. Visualise what it’s going to take to get you there. It’s ok to say that I don’t want this goal, if so, change it.
2. How committed are you to achieving your goal? You’re going to say very? But bear with me. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest), how committed are you. Remember it’s only you, you have to be honest with. If it’s below 7, then revisit the goal. It may just need some tweaking.
2. How much of a priority is the goal? This sounds the same as the one above, but it’s a little different. How much of a priority is achieving this goal in your life now? Again rate it, on a scale of 1 to 10. This is a really important one. If it is priority, this is what will kick start you into staying motivated. If it’s lower than a 7, maybe you need to revisit the goal at another time. It doesn’t mean you don’t want it, now might not be the right time. Or is there a way to make it more of a priority in your life?
4. What’s going to stop you achieving this goal? This might be something as simple as time and money, so you will need to factor these in to your actions, but it could be as big as a core belief. By understanding early on where the risks are, you can put tools in place to help. For example, someone who is trying to loose weight and comfort eats when stressed, needs to have something in place to change that behaviour. It could be as simple as being able to send an SOS out to a friend when they feel like they want to comfort eat.
5. Lastly. You can’t do it alone. I know, I tried. Right at the beginning of my business, I thought I was all I needed. I knew what I was doing. I had tools. I had plans, but you need other people who are going to give you honest feedback. Ideas in solo need someone who is going to tell you when they are stupid or not. Make friends who other business owners/entrepreneurs because they will understand the journey you are on and how lonely it can sometimes get.
A hour or so spent at the outset, will save you hours (even days) in the future.