Almost Successful? Get Out of Your Way! – 5 Tips to Get Out of Your Own Way
Waffle anyone? Can anyone say “leggo” my ego? I have had the unnecessary experience of missing or messing up opportunities over the years for several reasons, including ego. So that you can realize success faster, take a look at the following ways you can get out of your own way. Remember, sometimes I screw up, so you can go up.
1. Don’t allow past pain to blind you from opportunity. Just because it happened in the past, doesn’t mean it will happen again. Forgive yourself and those who took advantage of you. The past business venture that didn’t fly is not a lifetime sentence for future opportunities. Pain is a great teacher and from a perspective it can help to arm us. The next time around, do your diligence to protect yourself. Ask questions, do thorough investigations, and back ground checks. You may discover a new opportunity disguised in your pain. I have a friend who was burned by a real estate deal a few years back and he has my admiration because he recently decided to get back in the game.
2. Be honest about where you are. This can be a challenge, but in my experience the best person to bring you out of crisis is you. You are the most familiar with your situation, however if you ignore reality, you make it difficult to solve problems. Open yourself up to people who can help. You don’t have to own a corporation to have an (HR) human resources department. Utilize the talent you have around you.
3. Look past the victories and pride of the past. Past victories may be an albatross around your neck. Having trophies is great. Recalling success is great. But when times and market conditions change, you cannot expect to gain wins the way you did before. You must be agile and adjust. I learned this the hard way with flipping houses. I flipped a house in 2005 in 7 days, with a line of people waiting to throw money at it. Fast forward to 2009, it took me 5 months to realize flipping houses in a recession is different than attempting to sell them in a sellers market.
4. Seek new ideas. No individual is an idea factory. As sure as there is a hot idea today, there will be something else better around the corner. You may not want to totally abandon your ideas, but keep your eyes open to what else is out there. What if there is a compliment to your current method? For example, social media may be a better means of reaching your customers, rather than postcard mailouts. Let go of your pride. If there is a potential opportunity, but your not totally convinced about being involved, test it out. This way you minimize your risk.
5. Find people who have been where you want to go. Make sure this is not someone who boast about theories. Contact only individuals who have proven success. Request to meet them for coffee or treat them lunch in an effort gain their knowledge. Every time I have done this, everyone has been willing to share. Real Estate, Event Logistics, Speaker Mentors, every last one of them said yes. These men and women have saved me time, money and have made me successful in the areas above. I should have called Jordan for basketball strategy, but his cell phone was disconnected. For that reason I am terrible at basketball.
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