Five 'mistruths' we believe about our business

Do you find yourself favouring longstanding, yet unhelpful, beliefs about your business that feels easier to hide behind than challenge?

Something like:

• Mondays are always a bit rubbish

• No point starting anything on a Friday afternoon

• Everyone switches off from work once the school holidays begin (best wait 'til September)

• A recession is a terrible time to start a business

• A recession is a fantastic time to start a business (see what I did there?)

Like most clichés, they exist because they are modal (we accept them to be true because it's what we most often hear).

The five 'mistruths' we believe about our business, listed above (and I invite you to share more if any pop into your head) are all examples of procrastination.

I'm going to use the 'E' word – they're excuses.

They also become self-fulfilling. The more you tell yourself 'don't'... you don't.

What if you decided to tell yourself 'do'?

The five 'mistruths' we believe about our business

Revisiting that bullet list above, what might happen if you challenged your belief about each one?

• What if you turn up to work on Monday with purpose and a smile? It's one fifth of your working life, that's a weighty chunk of time to choose not to enjoy yourself because of 'habit'

• What if you ran with that amazing idea that just popped into your brain regardless of the calendar and clock?

• What about those people who aren't tied to the school year, or who need your brand of magic today, not next term? Why deny them your skills and support?

• Recession or no recession (two points in onwards here) – the only guaranteed bad time to do anything is 'never'. The sooner you act, start practising what you want to make happen, start talking, start sharing, start standing up to be seen, the sooner things start to happen

People might argue 'market forces', 'cost of living crisis' and these are valid 'events'. And it may seem naive to counter that with a simple "Your response to these events defines your outcome".

But it is true.

"What defines your success is what you choose to do to become successful".

(Ooh, I might put that on a t-shirt!)

I'm taking action

On Tuesday 8th July, I'm running a free, half-hour lunch and learn workshop on LinkedIn, exploring the relationship we each have with failure (see last week's blog) and how the smallest shift in that relationship can reap huge rewards.

Join me on LinkedIn next Tuesday

I hope to see you there.