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| Business Development |
 WHAT'S
STOPPING YOU?By Greg Parker of BizPlanDirect, Toronto Today's fast-paced business world is not for the faint hearted. If you are not confident and resilient, you may find that the road to success is more than you can handle. You need to believe in yourself and your abilities, and not take criticisms personally. You need to be confident and sure of yourself even when others aren't. There really isn't anything we can't do as long as we manage the risks and build our confidence, and you need to believe in what you are doing in order to soldier on through adversity. Belief is simply a feeling of confidence that certain things will or will not occur. It is dynamic, in that the more we conquer and achieve, the greater it's bounds - it accepts the possibility that loftier goals can be reached. It could be a belief that your new business will be successful or that you will land that big account that you've been working on. There are obvious external factors that impede our progress, but one of the biggest obstacles could be within ourselves. Sometimes we stand in the way of our own success, whether it is a fear of failure or an inability to seize an opportunity, we talk ourselves out of taking chances and situations where there is a possibility of disappointment. Look at where you are right now, and where you would like to be. For many of us, those two images are not the same - the question is why? The answer is often that we lack belief and confidence in ourselves to accomplish our greatest ambitions, so we settle for lesser achievements. We give so much more attention to our failures than to our successes, to the point where we live in fear of ever failing. Our confidence levels are much lower than they should be, given our true potential. You need to manage the risk and build your confidence. Everything in life holds some degree of risk, and there is nothing wrong with a reasonable amount of risk. Every successful person has had to take on some degree of risk to get there, and probably experienced some failure along the way. But they found ways to keep their confidence up and carry on. Confidence is an absolute necessity for success, because ambition and progress cannot exist without it. Can you imagine trying to run a business without believing that you can be successful? You will do just enough to get by, waiting for the inevitable day when you will be forced to close up for good. In a way, your mindset would sabotage any chance that you have to succeed. One of the hardest things to do is objectively analyze our weaknesses and take the necessary steps to overcome them. Perhaps our greatest weakness as a society is our lack of support for other people's beliefs and our condemnation for those who unsuccessfully pursue their ambitions. Failure isn't such a bad thing - it shows courage and effort, and adds to our experience exponentially. Besides, how satisfied would we be if we never attempted to conquer those things that really challenge us? It's our lack of confidence that keeps us from reaching our potential. It is the element that we require to take chances and push ourselves to new limits. It's not just a matter of hoping that things will or will not occur, but rather to compare the positives and the negatives, and objectively see that what we want to happen is quite possible. Imagine how different life would be if we wholeheartedly believed that we could succeed in everything we do. Think of all the time we've already wasted by second-guessing ourselves and waiting for risk-free opportunities to arise. Aren't we selling ourselves short by not attempting to reach our potential and fulfill our biggest dreams? We would probably take more pleasure in trying something and falling short, and feel some satisfaction just from making the effort and learning from the experience, than never attempting it at all. Greg Parker, of BizPlanDirect, Toronto, provides business planning, strategic planning, & small business consulting services. Greg may be reached at 416.564.6080 or visit his website at www.bizplandirect.com |