08.04.04
Stop Squeaking! Align Yourself for Business Success!
Stop Squeaking! Align Yourself for Business Success!
By Helen Chen
Even for a remarkable business owner like you, from time to time, you may still loose motivation in continuing the expansion of a service or product line. At time, you may seem to have a hard time figuring out why this once fantastic business that got you so excited every morning is making you feel like a heavy weight now.
Remember the last time you heard that squeaky sound in your car? What happened? Parts are not in alignment and there was no lubricant, so there was tension, there was unpleasant sound. If you don’t fix it fast, there is going to be smoke and there is going to be a you in frustration.
The same thing is true when your every business tasks are not in alignment with your vision, mission and values. In your soul, you experience that “squeaky” feeling that you have a hard time to explain.
Most of us are familiar with having a clear vision and mission, so I will not get into it here.
I would like to talk with you today about your values.
Before investing more time and efforts to take your business to a fascinating new level, you must re-evaluate first what your primary values are, how you prioritize them inside you. And, see if your business activities support and are in alignment with the priority of your values.
Let’s say, you just became a father or mother. You used to travel a bit to speak to specific groups of people to market your business. Now, to take your business to the next level you need to travel and speak and network more frequently.
But, family life is on the very top of your priority list, in a place higher than business or career success. So, whenever your work requires that you travel for an extensive amount of time, your inner self experiences a misalignment. You may still go ahead and do what your “head” tells you what you are supposed to do, but your heart is centered to your value. When the head pulls the whole body to do what it dictates it to do, the heart starts to send out signals to you that if you don’t make adjustments, you will not stay in wholesome health any longer. The heart sends out signals by decreasing your enthusiasm, motivation and self-esteem. You start seeing yourself get down more easily, you feel lonely, not understood and you feel that you get angry easily or you get blamed for shutting your emotions.
One of the easies way to figure out what your values are and in what priority they are in is to make a “Desire List.”
Ask youself or have a trusted friend ask you, “What do you want?” Then, begin to jot down your list of answers.
Don’t judge yourself for your wants. You need to create a safe and open environment for yourself so that your true self gets uncovered. Don’t be ashamed to say, “I want to own a house by the lake with an amazing view to the mountains and a dock for launching your very own boat.” Or, “I want to be a millionaire.” Or, “I want to be a famous dancer!” Just let things flow.
Let the same question come at you for 10 to 15 minutes. You may start getting bored of the same question, but you may start seeing what is hiding under those wants. Your initial “wants” are really saying, “I want to be recognized.” “I want to be trusted and respected.” “I wanted to be loved by my family members.’ “I want to be understood and loved for the real me.” “I want to make a difference in this world.”
Your wants and desires express your values.
Take your top 5 values and complete the following questions to get an inner alignmen
1. What are you doing on a daily basis to support these values?
2. What are you doing on a daily basis that does not support these values or that are in conflict with these values?
3. How can you modify your business life so that you support your most important values? How can you eliminate or start eliminating business activities that are in conflict with your values? If these business activities are important to the growth of your business, what else is out there for you to consider for the replacement of such activities. Take the example above; ask yourself if you can find out ways to market the same audience through the phone, internet and other ways? Hold a teleseminar?
If you are a busy business owner, you will have many activities and to-do’s everyday. Form the habit to run your business tasks through these results-proven questions and get a sleek business owner’s inner alignment from time to time.
Everything we do is an opportunity for personal growth. As you get better at integrating your business activities with who you are and your priority of values for the period of time that you are in, you will begin to see yourself operating your business in a superior new level of effectiveness and profitability.
Helen Chen is a Business and Life Coach. She specializes in partnering with remarkable individuals in business to get out of their own way and take themselves to the next fascinating new level of effectiveness and profitability. To receive her FREE ezine with proven tips and exercises to take yourself and your business to a SUREFIRE new level of success, go to http://www.HYCCoaching.com.