Why getting to know yourself is good for business
smart fresh update: I’ve joined the SNOBSpecialists team over at Carlee Potter’s online magazine SNOBS (Social Network for Opportunistic Businesswomen). This article was first published on SNOBS.
Spending regular quality time with ourselves – whether meditating, journalling or simply reflecting on our day – is fairly universally acknowledged as a Good Thing. It makes us happier and healthier. So why isn’t it at the top of our to-do list every day?
When it does make the list, quiet contemplation usually falls in the ‘nice to do but optional if I run out of time’ category. We’ll definitely get to it… right after we’ve sent out those orders, called that promising new client and relaunched the website (not to forget organising dinner for the family and making time to catch up with friends).
When you’re working for yourself, you want to devote your limited time to the activities that most effectively build your business. And, really, isn’t all this naval-gazing a bit of a luxury?
No.
Getting to know yourself really is good for business. In fact, it’s essential if you want to realise your full business potential.
To prove it, here’s five practical reasons you should be adding ‘quality time with me’ to the top of your to-do list.
1. Regularly clearing your mind guarantees clearer thinking and action.
You only need to try it for a week, or even a couple of days, to know it’s true.
Set aside 20 minutes when you first wake up, or just before you go to sleep, to dump all your thoughts into a journal. What went wrong recently? What went right? Have you made any important decisions? What was going through your mind at the time? How are you feeling right now? Did something happen to spark this feeling?
There’s no particular goal to this exercise; you don’t need to try to find ‘big lessons’. Let it flow and let it go. These thoughts are taking head space whether you acknowledge them or not. When you free that space you can refocus on your business with more clarity, and it’s likely that the exercise will reveal opportunities you might have otherwise overlooked.
2. Success requires that everyone pulls in the same direction.
By that, I mean everyone in you.
When making career or business decisions, we often give a lot of attention to external opinions. What will our family think? What is most likely to make us money? What will offer the most security?
In doing so, we may ignore the opinions of those within.
You’re not going to be working at your creative, productive best if part of you is pulling in another direction. You may even subconsciously sabotage your own success by avoiding basic business building activities like marketing and networking.
So, call an open forum in your mind and invite everyone to have their say about the business – uninterrupted and without judgement. You might be surprised by what you learn.
3. Everything works better when you know what works for you.
There is a lot of advice out there on how to start-up and run a successful business. You’re reading some of that advice right now. You’ll find it in print, online, at seminars and sprinkled amongst conversations with family, friends and colleagues.
Try to implement all of it you and you will drive yourself crazy. It won’t do your business much good either. So how do you choose? From marketing to time management, you’ll get the best results when you choose strategies that compliment your strengths and motivate you to keep going. There is no golden right way, there are only ways that work for you and ways that don’t.
If you’re naturally a big picture person but have trouble following through on the day-to-day, then a detailed task tracker could be what you need. If you tend to get obsessed with systems and lose sight of your larger goals, then a simplified vision statement and to-do list might help you stay on target.
When you know yourself, and what works for you, you’ll be much more effective choosing and implementing strategies for your business.
4. Knowing your strengths means knowing when and how to ask for help.
We’ve all heard that delegation and / or outsourcing are the keys to scaling our business. But which parts do we delegate? Once again, what’s right for one person will not be right for another. Know what you love to do, and what you do well, and hire people to compliment your abilities.
The bonus is that when you understand how you work best, you’ll do a better job of selecting and briefing service providers. Also great for business.
5. Being you saves time, effort and money.
When you know yourself, and when your business and the way you work is aligned with who you are, you save yourself time and energy in every aspect of your day.
You don’t have to pull on your ‘business’ mask each morning. (Isn’t that why so many us left our day jobs in the first place?) You can meet contacts and clients as you are, and speak with confidence about the value of what you do.
As a website copywriter I know that when an entrepreneur has a strong sense of her own voice, and its relationship to the business, we’re in a much better position to develop a compelling message that connects with potential clients. People can sense when you are genuinely engaged by your work, and this translates surprisingly effortlessly across all your business activities.
So, now you’ve got five good business reasons to make time to get to know yourself. Are you going to be making some changes to your to-do list? Or have you already been reaping the business benefits of quality ‘me time’?
Let me know in the comments…
Leave a Reply