The Magic Question Winners Ask Themselves Daily
July 13th, 2016 // 10:30 am @ Scott Manning
Most people pretend to want to win, they just sign-up to be in business to say they are. Or worse yet to weasel out of the responsibilities and obligations of others; only to find out what’s worse than being beholden to others is being at the mercy of yourself. You quickly come to realize that you no longer have scapegoats or excuses. You have to stand on your own two feet with no place to hide.
I use to cheer on people who played business in the old days when I first started out because I was happy to see people be their own boss and seek their own independence. I quickly soured to this for the same reason I wrote about last week; not only because it is disrespectful to those who sweat it out every day fighting the good fight but because it sets a bad example for other business owners and young entrepreneurs that get enslaved to the idea that business is and of itself the victory – it is not.
And these poor business people, who do not fully understand or take their responsibility seriously, ruin good customers and turn people into skeptics. They also allow corporate, big-dumb companies to rise up and suffocate the American dream of other entrepreneurs.
Now I follow a simple philosophy, be in business on your own terms, define your own definition of success, but make damn certain that you are doing the art of entrepreneurship proud and respecting the responsibility that comes from being in charge of your own income and the lives of your customers.
The true professional doesn’t stop at ‘just being in business’ no more so than the athlete stops and just playing – they want to win. You aren’t a true professional, a legitimate business owner, an American entrepreneur if you aren’t in business to win too.
So that brings me to the question of today and every single day you decide to take this whole thing very seriously:
What will you accomplish today that will move you closer to your overall business and life objectives?
This is a question I think business owners don’t asks themselves enough and routinely. They should, you should, because it is ultimately the only question that matters.
It’s very easy, as you know, for days to turn into weeks to turn into months and years as they go bye with you still working on and doing the same things.
Most business owners and entrepreneurs are trying to climb the mountain of life on a treadmill with a step incline, grinding it out in pain and agony to wind up exactly where they started but never being able to pause without loosing ground and falling off.
Instead, the real business warriors have spikes in hand, cleats on their feet, digging into the side of the mountain and reaching up to climb with all their might. Reaching the next breakthrough, the next pinnacle to then stand on top of their conquest and looking over the horizon for the next one.
This is the difference from being self-employed versus owning a business no matter what role you play in your own business. Even if you are doing everything, there is a difference in mindset, modus operandi and daily execution between these two types of people.
You can, as I have pointed out and written about in the past few weeks, determine which one you want to be simply by being deliberate and intentional about your focus, strategy, and actions.
Climbing your mountain instead of running on a treadmill begins by always asking yourself that question –
“What will I accomplish today that will move me closer to me overall business and life objectives?”
The answer has to come from something beyond just income-driven cash-flow based behaviors that move you through the day to just pay the bills and rinse-and-repeat.
That is the fastest way to burnout and self-sabotage.
Your goal everyday should be three-fold without exception:
1. Achieving as great a profit as possible over and above the investment (overhead) required to operate your business in this given day
2. Creating future value and revenue as result of the actions, accomplishments, and progress from the day
3. Compounding the results in your business through the efforts of you, your team, your systems, and your customers’ involvement so as to build a more valuable business and build momentum to make tomorrow worth more than today and ideally easier by nature of what has been implemented
These are three very big and pivotal concepts of business success and we’ll pick up here next week with one at a time. As we celebrate the month of independence for our nation, I’m going to make sure you have it in your business and life too.
Category : Blog
