Are You All Passion and No Action?
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I was instantly drawn to Business Heroine based on the tagline “For the Entrepreneur who said she would, and did.”
My immediate reaction was “Yes!”
It is easy to boldly dream and perhaps even get those ideas down on paper or on a vision board. You may recite your positive affirmations daily and begin making small steps toward starting a venture. But for many women, fully launching a business still maybe very far off.
So what separates the woman who “did” from the one who just “said she would?”
Two things: mindset and action. This separates the dreamers from the dreamers who actually do.
Mindset
Our mindset is the most powerful contributor to our success. Our beliefs, both those we are aware of and those of which we are not aware, are pulling us in various directions and not always towards our desired goals. Many of our beliefs about the world live below the surface in our subconscious. Ninety percent of our brain processing happens here. Thankfully our subconscious allows our body to function without us consciously focusing our attention on everyday tasks like breathing and blinking.
The subconscious also has the grand task of keeping us safe. It is constantly assessing the world around us determining how to keep us out of harm’s way. It wants to prevents us from perceived emotional hurt, failure, criticism, embarrassment and disappointment. For instance, you want to build a wildly successful business while maintaining an active personal life, yet your subconscious beliefs are saying to you “Sweetie, you don’t really deserve to have it all” or “Who do you think you are?” Sadly if we’re not aware of the internal battle going on, we often find ourselves procrastinating or making excuses as to why it’s not a good time to start a business.
So what’s a gal to do?
Awareness is key. Once you shine a light and expose the underlying limiting beliefs, you can address them. Ignoring them, stuffing them down or dressing them up as something else will only make them more powerful and a dream destroyer.
3 tips to shine a light on your beliefs:
1. Write down your biggest, boldest, most bad-a** goals on a sheet of paper.
2. Now look at each item and quietly listen to the “yeah, buts…” that arise when you look at your goals. For example: “I want to make $100K next year… yeah, but I don’t see how that’s really possible. It’ll be hard.”
3. After you’ve uncovered the “yeah, buts” those whispers that are secretly holding you back, you can restate them in a more empowering way. “I want to make $100K next year. I know it’s possible, I can figure this out and I’m willing to do what it takes to make it happen.”
Action
Now it’s time for action. Once you clear the way and have made the commitment to yourself that you want to pursue your passion and dreams, it’s time to take action. Without daily action your business is only a wish, a dream, a fantasy.
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
3 tips to get you moving in the direction of your dream:
1. Write down your big goals and dreams and then break them down by what you can accomplish this year, within the next 3 months, the next month and this week. If you look at your big goals without smaller steps you might easily get overwhelmed and discouraged.
2. To get stuff done, commit each day to doing 3 action items toward your goal. They don’t need to be big items but ones that move you ever closer to your desired results.
3. Find an accountability confidante and chat with her once a week. Share what you plan to accomplish and then report back. There is nothing like a little peer pressure to keep you on task.
So go ahead – dream big, shine a light on those niggling beliefs, tell them to put a lid on it and then take some action today. Before you know it, you’ll be rolling in the dough, sipping Mai Tai’s on the beach and serving the world with your work.
One thing I do is to commit to starting a project and just plugging away until it is finished. For example, I wanted to write a tutorial but kept putting it off because other things popped up to do, less scary things. However I committed to writing this tutorial and that I would work it to the end. I did it, I completed my goal, I patted myself on my back and recognized that yes, I could do this! What a boon to my business ego that was!
Dani -
That is a great example and good for you! I agree, sometimes just continuing to work on something, especially those tasks that you’d rather put off, can give you a great sense of accomplishment. I’ve also found that when you look at your day, you might consider knocking off the less desirable tasks first rather than the easy ones. The easy ones are often those that may not have the biggest impact but are simple admin ‘to do’s’ – which can fill your entire day. Just another idea. Anyway – congrats on your commitment and big win! – Jenn