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Your Mid-Year Business Check-up
By Michael | June 30, 2009
Greetings,
I was straightening up my desk today and happened to look at my desk calendar. That was when I realized that 2009 is almost halfway over.
I quickly did a mental review of the goals I set for this year. A few of them I had already achieved. I’m on pace to meet some additional ones before years-end. There’s also a few goals that I’m miles away from reaching this year.
The goals that you have already achieved can be a tremendous confidence booster. So can the ones that you can honestly say you’re on track to reaching.
It’s the ones that you set the bar too high that can really squash your spirits… if you let them.
Many people will automatically put themselves down for missing the mark… that’s why the cliche “I am my own worst enemy” holds a lot of truth for them.
That’s a huge mistake!
Tearing yourself down will only knock your self-confidence even lower and make it much more difficult to achieve all of your goals.
Instead, take the time to reassess each goal that looks like you won’t meet this year.
Ask yourself these questions:
1) Did I set an unrealistic goal? If so, readjusting the goal to a more realistic level could be a great decision to make.
2) Did something happen that was out of my control and prevented me from reaching my goal? Don’t put the blame on yourself for missing a goal if it wasn’t your fault. Sometimes life truly does hand us lemons. It’s best to acknowledge that something happened that was out of your control.
Let me give you a great example.
When 2008 started, I had set a big goal for my personal income. My consulting and info-product businesses were doing very well, so I honestly felt I had a really good chance to have my best year ever financially.
That was before my then-pregnant wife was in a really bad car accident in March. Then she gave birth to our son in May. The good news is both of them are completely fine.
Unfortunately, I had to massively cut down my work load for almost 5 months to help my wife care for our children and assist her recovery. That meant I had literally no shot of reaching my big yearly goal. While I felt “bad” about missing my big goal, I quickly dismissed the bad feelings because I knew I did the right thing by being there for my wife and children during their time of need. After all, it wasn’t my fault that some idiot slid his car across the highway and in front of my wife’s Honda Odyssey. It wasn’t my fault that his recklessness caused a major accident that totaled both vehicles and could have killed several people, including the idiot driver.
This was truly something that happened that was 100% out of my control so I made the best of a bad situation. Truth be told, my family means more to me than making any amount of money in the world. I was actually more upset about my loved ones being hurt by someone else than my big goal being placed out of my reach.
3) What can I do or do differently to reach that goal? Ask yourself: is it a matter of needing more information or a better strategy to reach your goal? If it’s needing more information, then start looking for that information.
If it’s a matter of strategy, then take 30 minutes and sit down in a quiet place and brainstorm. You’ll be surprised by the number of great ideas or even a step-by-step plan your mind will produce.
In closing, I’d like to encourage you to use the last “half” of 2009 to do your best and reach even more of your goals. Because if you do, it’s a massive confidence builder and a great way to begin 2010!
Until next time,
Mike
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Topics: General Discussion, Mental Food | No Comments »