Dealing with the difficult stuff
By BRETT DAVIDSON
Have you ever uttered the words, "I hate this?"
I have.
It usually comes up when I can't do something.
In my case, it might be when I'm faced with a DIY issue at home. I've told myself for years that I have DIY.
The truth is, I'm not very good at it for a few reasons:
I don't believe I ever had a natural aptitude for it or interest in it when I was a kid.
As a result, I've not done much of it.
So whenever I attempt it, with the words "I hate this" going through my head, I don't commit to it, don't usually do it very well and often end up just reinforcing all those beliefs and proving myself right.
Have you ever followed that same thought process yourself?
As you grow your business, you're continually bumping up against new situations and challenges that you've never faced before.
Maybe you tell yourself you're a great adviser, but you're not very good at all the business management stuff or the recruitment and HR issues.
Or you're great with clients, but no good with compliance.
Does telling yourself those things make them true?
Only if you want them to be.
Like me with DIY, I can make it a self-fulfilling prophecy; or I can dig in and learn some new skills.
When a business problem is difficult, it often presents as one thing (the symptom), but solving it will require you to work on something completely different (the cause).
And eventually, if left unaddressed, it can become totally frustrating.
Scott Young, author of Ultralearning: Accelerate Your Career, Master Hard Skills and Outsmart the Competition says:
"'I hate this' isn't a feeling — it's a sentence. It's a sentence your mentally utter in automatic response to certain things going on in your environment. However, recognise that this isn't a single, unified experience, but several discrete experiences happening in lockstep:
You notice you're doing something badly.
You notice that others may notice you're doing something badly.
You feel embarrassed, and start to feel bad.
You feel like you need to escape or stop.
You say to yourself, 'I hate this'."
The important thing to recognise is that this internal dialogue is common to everyone, it's not just you.
Once you recognise it: you change it, if you want to.
Why would you bother?
Dealing with the challenges in your business and your life is worth the effort. However, you'll only bother making an effort because you have a goal that requires you to.
If you've got a business goal that really means something, you dig in and try to find the answers that will allow you to grow.
How committed you'll be depends on the size and importance of the goal.
What's the payoff?
A feeling of satisfaction.
When a challenge or issue arises in your business, dealing with the real issue changes your life for the better.
But there's work involved.
Not dealing with the issue feels better in the short-term because someone else can be blamed and there's no work involved, but it doesn't improve your business or your life in any way.
When you front-up to difficult issues, the payoff is improved self-confidence as you learn that you can solve them and see a better life ahead.
"The hard way is the easy way."
- Scott Young
Let me know how you go.
BRETT DAVIDSON helps financial planners take the headache out of running a business, so that they can get back to doing what they love — looking after their clients.
This article was first published on Brett’s blog and is republished here with his permission.
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