How many weeks, months, years, must go by when you realize you have sheltered yourself in a self-constructed box that has:
- Limited your reach
- Limited your visibility
- Limited your availability
- Limited your goals
- Limited your potential
- Limited your income
- Limited your future
It is a scary realization. We ponder, sometimes too little, on things that affect us the most. We do that because we are scared to take that one step that moves us out of a self-constructed milieu, a world that is small but somewhat comfortable, but painful and scary at times. Is your world built on anxiety and just-in-time business dealings? Is your environment one in which every day you shrug your shoulders thinking: "well that's it. that's the way it is. I can't really do anything about it". WRONG
You CAN do something about it. Realizing you have methodically built a make-believe world that limits your potential is the first step on GETTING OUT OF THE TRAP.
Like the mythical frog in a pan who can't tell when the temperature has brought him to boiling point and is done for, we can build our own trap with the same consequences.
The box that YOU have built has been fastened with the following deadly nails:
- Ignorance
- Little self-esteem
- Lack of motivation
- Belief in your previous success and methodology
- Pride
Have you neglected to stay aware of your business environment, the 'market', your competitors, the thing that is taking the market by storm and that you have failed on which to capitalize?
Are you timid about moving forward and admitting that you need to possibly educate yourself, even a little, so that you can stay on top of the 'game'? What is making you apprehensive about succeeding beyond the few milestones you have achieved?
Have you lost the drive to make things better for yourself? Are you in a state of denial because everything YOU thought needed to be done was accomplished already or some kind of insurmountable roadblock prevented you from realizing your goals?
Are you still taking 'baby steps'? What are you waiting for??
Are you relying on the methods taken at first to achieve a modicum of success and keep going down the same path? The ways of business change rapidly and what worked once, even well, may not work now at all? How long will you wait until you must do something different?
I think pride and self-delusion is probably the most caustic block to breaking out of a deadly box built of your own mindset and custom. 'I have been doing it like this for years'. Well, what about now? 'It used to work great for me but it just needs a bit of time and fixin' to get back to what was a great deal for me'. Sorry, you are late and others are leapfrogging in front of you. Beware you are not lost in the dust of others' simple openmindedness.
Have you been relying 100% on technology to solve your problems? Have you lost the 'human touch'? Are your systems up to date? Check on what your winning competition is doing. Find out what they are promoting, selling, negotiating, advertising, etc. How is their branding compared to yours? Are you using the same tools to stay out front? If not, why not CHANGE YOUR WAYS to stay competitive?
And think about this: are your presumptions based on the best available information? Perhaps you need to investigate other solutions to achieve goals that haven't seen the light of day recently...
PS: if you continue to do the same things over and over, methodically, purposefully, but achieve the same unintended results... you are driving another nail into your box. You have achieved a definition of insanity.
PSS: if you accede to the PC culture, you may be limiting your ability to get out of your box. Sometimes action must be taken that will 'offend' others' sensibilities. This action may expose weaknesses in your system of doing things or working with certain people. Tough decisions must be made because if everyone is holding hands singing kumbaya, not much of anything productive is getting done. I say this in the kindest intentions but...Enough is Enough.
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