Most of us unknowingly establish habits that stop us reaching our full potential. It’s scarily easy! So I wanted to share my thoughts on the 7 reasons why you might not be reaching YOUR full potential.
1. You’re doing too much admin
As a busy entrepreneur, you’ll know how easy it can be to fall into the trap of carrying out day to day tasks yourself and forgetting to question if you’re using your time effectively. Before you know it, you’ve lost an hour out of your day just checking your inbox… and another hour getting lost on social media (you only popped on it to reply to a client enquiry). And then there’s the bookkeeping… trying to arrange a convenient time for a Zoom… proofreading the new landing page…
Your time is squandered and you wonder where the day went.
It’s all too easy to slip into the habit of doing all your own in-house admin and bookkeeping. You know how valuable your time is. And you don’t need me to tell you it would be better spent growing your business.
By tracking exactly how you spend your time each day, you can target where to make changes to benefit your business and increase productivity. Time tracking can be real eye-opener – it’s a good way to catch yourself. Your time is valuable, use it wisely.
2. You’re getting distracted
As an entrepreneur, there’s a high chance you’re drawn to shiny new things and go after them like a magpie. You may create a new course… have another business idea… or decide to set up a joint venture with someone. You’re full of ideas and these things are exciting – I get it, I’m a culprit too! But the lack of focus on your core business could be what’s holding you back.
I know from my own experience that distractions can lead to you spreading yourself too thinly, rather than focusing in one area where you could achieve really big things.
When I started working with my business coach Michelle, she got me thinking about what I could achieve if I stopped chasing after exciting shiny new things and put all my effort into my existing business. Ridiculous as this sounds now, it was a lightbulb moment for me – I knew that whatever had my full focus would thrive.
It was a no brainer.
3. You’re not protecting your time
You already know that you need to protect your time. But it’s easy to let things slide.
When I was a member of the Entrepreneurs Circle, it was drummed into me to block out 90 minutes each day for marketing and business growth strategies. It was great advice. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite make 90 minutes every day work for me, so I found my own variation of it that fitted with my life. Nigel Botterill was so right – if you don’t strictly protect this time regularly, your business will stand still.
I see so many ambitious small business owners making great plans, then life gets in the way and they push things back to a tomorrow that never comes.
It’s vital to create the headspace you need to drive your business forward. Create a morning routine to set your intentions for the day, then block out this time and say no to anything that might interrupt it. Protect time for writing copy, marketing campaigns, investing in personal development and strategic planning – give your business a chance to reach its full potential, no one else will do it for you.
4. You’re not taking enough time off
Becoming a workaholic is something I see happen to many entrepreneurs – it’s understandable given the drive we have and the desire to succeed. And of course as entrepreneurs, we’re passionate about the work we do, and we enjoy the cut and thrust of the business world.
Because what we do doesn’t feel like conventional ‘work’, it’s common to lose any sense of the hours you put in. Yet the personal consequences can be quite alarming – from stress and irritability to missing out on important family events and extreme tiredness.
Research into productivity has shown it actually drops if you work longer hours but increases by 13% if you’re happier – shorter working hours were found to reduce stress, tiredness and negative emotions so you can see why I’m an advocate of taking time out of your business to make sure you’re refreshed and ready to thrive.
Build ‘wrap up’ time into your calendar daily – give yourself half an hour to finish for the day, close the laptop and walk away.
5. Your perfectionism is getting in the way
You’re never going to get everything perfect when you’re running your own business – it’s simply impossible and the pursuit of it will leave you stressed and burnt out. Research found that 86% of people who responded found perfectionist expectations impacted their work, 68% said it led to burnout and 66% found it led to a fear of failure.
I’ve fought with perfectionism for a long time, so I totally get it. You’ve built up your business from scratch, your heart and soul has gone into it… if you don’t have high standards as the boss, who in your business will?
So what is the issue with being a perfectionist? Surely there’s nothing wrong with wanting to do an excellent job is there? Not at all, but the trouble with perfectionism is that nothing is ever good enough – you could do a brilliant job and still not find the satisfaction you’re looking for, and that comes with its own problems.
Instead, find a balance.
Part of this balance is about delegating well – train someone, such as a VA, to understand the way you like to work. Share your thought process and talk them through the tasks you need them to do, so they know what’s important to you and how you would handle each aspect. If they know exactly how you like things done, whether it’s communicating in a specific tone of voice or signing off emails in a certain way, they can think and respond just as you would.
The other part is about accepting that no one in the world will do it as you would. Are you willing to let some of it go to get the balance you need to be able to grow your business?
6. You’re being a control freak
My entrepreneurial clients often confess on their welcome call that they’re a control freak. But there’s a spectrum. Often it’s harmless. But in extreme cases, it tends to take one of two forms – either they find it so hard to delegate, they simply give up… or they micromanage and their VA feels they have no autonomy.
So what should you do if being a control freak is hindering your business growth? I get how hard it is to let go when it’s your business… your pride and joy that you’ve worked bloody hard for. The key thing here is for you to invest time upfront with your VA, showing them and explaining how you like things done. If you need them to confirm receipt of every email you send, tell them. If you want a daily update, ask for it. If your clients need responding to as a priority over anything else, let your VA know.
Being really honest about your pet hates and foibles is also really useful for your VA to know if they’re going to help run your business exactly as you like it to run. It’s no accident that one of my VA packages is a 5 hour retainer – while many clients are ready to sign up for more, this small monthly package reflects the need many new clients have to get to know and trust us first.
7. You’re lacking clarity about what you actually want
It sounds simple but you’d be amazed how many entrepreneurs lose sight of the bigger picture once their business takes off – from micromanaging to simply losing focus.
When is the last time you really thought about why you’re doing this and what your vision is? I’m sure you did it a while back, but does it still apply? Do you still get excited and feel passionate about your ‘why’ and the vision you came up with three years ago? Things change. It could be time to re-evaluate.
You may already have a vision board. You may practice affirmations or visualisation. And you almost certainly will have some sort of goals for the year but are they official? Have you communicated them to everyone you work with? Are you all working towards the same goal?
Take time out at the beginning of every day to remind yourself of the bigger picture. As well as giving you a real purpose for the day and motivation to drive your business forward, it also means you say NO to anything that doesn’t align with it. Creating that clarity on a daily basis is a real game changer.
