I recently read an article that shared 5 business lessons learned from Tony Robbins and the first one which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately was:

“Wherever focus goes, energy flows”

The importance of a right state of mind is critical when running a business. Things always go wrong but it’s imperative to focus on what you can control. If you get caught up with the menial daily activities affecting your business, you won’t have enough energy left to focus on growing it. Stay forward thinking and don’t dwell on bumps in the road.

 

After a long holiday, I was filled with excitement of new things in my business, clarity of my strategy and moving things forward.   This all came to a screeching holt when I was perusing through a few Facebook groups and comparisonitist gripped me like never before.  Now that I reflect on it, I put it down to jet lag and extreme tiredness but never the less, there were a number of thoughts that crossed my mind that said – why are you bothering, it’s all pointless, you have nothing to offer and no one really cares what you say.   I’m sharing this with you because even the most positive people have their off days and go through exactly what everyone else goes through.

So many of my business idols talk about business mind set and this week I really understood it.  In that moment, if I had focused on the negative thoughts and comparing myself to everyone else and what they are/were doing then I could easily see the work I do as pointless.

So after switching my computer off, getting a good night sleep and giving myself a good talking too – all was right with the world again and I had my buzz back!!

So that it doesn't happen again (or too often), here are a few things you can do to ensure this happens rarely in your business day:

1//Focus on what will serve you

As Tony Robbins says, “Wherever focus goes, energy flows”.  Focusing on what you love and what you’ve done – celebrating the small and big successes is something that has to become part of your everyday activity.  By focusing on yourself, your audience and not what others in your field are doing, will ensure that you’re focused on helping those around you.  It also means that you’ll feel like your ideas are original and tailored.  I’ve had the experience where I’ve created a service that I had tailored to my audience and just because I saw someone else had done something similar (after I had already created it) I decided it wasn’t any good.  All of that time and effort had been wasted all because I was looking at what others were doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m always learning from others and developing myself, but I now ensure that I’m not part of too many groups that are similar to what I do.  It means that I can allow my creativity to flow without feeling like I may have been inspired by someone else’s work.

ACTION:  Ensure that the learning that you’re doing is helping you grow your skills and business.  If it’s holding you back in any way then you may need to rethink the information you’re consuming.

2//Block what doesn't serve you

I’ve had this conversation with my community a number of times; if you are part of groups online or offline that drain your energy and creativity and cause doubt or negative feelings then it’s time to cut them out.  If you’re part of Facebook groups then turn off notifications or archieve them.  This means that you can still be part of them but you won’t see the conversation feed.  If you want to go and look at them, then you can.

Gauging how you feel after being with someone, reading something or being part of a conversation is really important.  I personally thing that when it comes to business and starting your own business you have to be extra diligent about the company that you keep.  It’s really easy to get side-tracked or derailed by others.  It may not be intention, but if a relationship of any kind doesn’t serve you then it’s time to make the tough calls and put them behind you or out of sight.   This may sound harsh but remember that it’s about creating the right environment to keep your thoughts and actions positive and keep you moving in the right direction.
ACTION:  Block what you don’t need to see and ensure that you’re focusing on what is helpful.  I do a regular clean up of my Facebook friends and pages so that I can control what I see and what I think is supportive and what’s not.

3//Surround yourself with awesome peeps

I feel very fortunate to have some pretty amazing women in my community (you can join here!).  They are passionate, focused and supportive of each other.  When you surround yourself with awesome people you’ll find that your ability to stay positive and keep on track is much easier.  As the saying go, you are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with.  Even though I don’t spend a lot of time with the women in my community, I ensure that when I’m talking about my business, I’m talking to people that ‘get it’.  If you have friends or family in your life that don’t understand the business world and think you should get a ‘real job’ then you’ll be surrounded by negativity which is not going to be helpful.

ACTION: Think about those people you spend the most time with.  Do they support you and help you move things forward?  If they do then great! If they don’t, then it may be worth thinking about people who can support you and lift you up, rather than drag you down.

4//Self-awareness = Success

Being self-aware is the key to ensuring you continue to manage your mindset.  If you don’t know what brings you down and what lifts you up then you can easily find yourself in a bad space without realising that you have been on that track for some time.  Guarding your head space is a full time job. It sound tiring and it can be but once you know what works for you and what doesn’t you’ll be able to manage it easily.

For example, I ensure my Facebook feed is right for me, I also ensure that my Instagram is positive with quotes, images I love and fun things that inspire me.  Whatever I do, read or see in my day, I try and ensure that it’s going to lift me up and not bring me down.

ACTION:  Think about everything you come in contact with in your day that you have control over.  Now review them and see whether you think they are a positive or negative effect. Make the changes you need to if required.

 

As a business owner it’s up to you to ensure that you protect yourself from negativity.  What do you do to ensure that you keep yourself positive and on the right track?