Don't be disheartened by what you see as a failure - Mistakes are all part the business journey and can be reframed as positives...
You might be reflecting back on the business goals you set previously. How are you feeling about them?
Have you kept up with the activities you identified to drive success? Have you already found success in your short-term business goals? Have you dropped the ball, or found you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
Many business owners position this as a ‘mistake’ as they have not delivered as planned.
I’m here to tell you that it’s all OK.
Every outcome has a result and a learn. Do we repeat, ditch, tweak, change?
30, 60 and 90 days into the year is a great time to go back to your strategic business plan and see how you’ve progressed, or where you haven’t.
Here are some questions you could ask yourself if you’re feeling a bit low about your progress.
1. Is my reason ‘why’ still front of mind?
It’s easy to lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing, whether that’s saying to yes to something that daunts you, or no to something that initially excited you. Keep that strong reason why in mind and it will help you make the right business decisions to keep you on track.
2. What am I proud of achieving so far?
I understand that when faced with a list of things to do to develop your business, and a list of things to do for your customers and clients, that it’s all too easy to tick it off and push forward to the next thing. Don’t forget to congratulate yourself for the things well done, recognising even the small achievements is important.
3. Did I get what I expected out of it?
If you went networking for the first time, for example, did you lay out your goals before you went? Did you have the conversations you wanted to have? Did you feel good about your 60 seconds? Did you build your LinkedIn connections? Whatever the activity was, what was the point of it and did you get what you wanted?
4. Detail the ‘mistakes’
It’s important not to beat yourself up over any mistakes, but take an objective look at what didn’t work. Try to frame anything that didn’t work out as an opportunity to identify what you could do differently next time. Once you’ve done this, move swiftly on to making positive steps for improvement.
5. Specify the lessons
This is the really important part! What have you learned? That you need more practice, you need an expert to help, you don’t need to do that thing, you need to more of that thing, you need better communication methods, or you need to be more detailed in the plan before you start the activity? The list goes on and if you keep a record, you’ll begin to see a pattern in your own behaviour or mindset that you can identify.
Doing this will help you see into the future and avoid mistakes before they occur…
If you can foresee the obstacles, then you are less likely to face them. Henry Ford famously said, ‘The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing’, so if you are feeling down about a mistake that’s occurred, remember that, and that failure is inevitable but you can take constructive steps afterwards to achieve success.
All the best - Mike
Mike Foster
Entrepreneurs Mentor
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