To Excel In Business You Need To Forget How Far You Have Come

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How many of you measure your success by how far you've come since your kindergarten days?
Do you compare how much you do now with how much you did when you were just five years old?
Do you decide how much harder or softer you have to go based on how hard you worked when you were ten years old?

If we have learned to put the memories of our childhood behind us when making the big life and career decisions, why then should you keep holding tight to your business' childhood days? It is the easiest way to get out of touch with the changing world, to lose touch with your evolving customers and to become the very dinosaur, the this-is-the-way-we-used-to-do-it-before-you-were-born, businesses we constantly criticize. 

Excelling in business is like climbing an infinity high mountain. There is always a greater height to attain, but the moment you look back and feel you've arrived then you start carving a plateau for yourself. Whenever you focus too much on how far you have come, you neglect how much you have changed. It wasn't the same you as it was at the start. The current you has more knowledge, more skills and more experience, which demands greater use. Like they say, with more power comes greater responsibility. With every new height you attain in business, it is your new responsibility to reach for a greater height.You must do more with the more you now have.

I try to live my business life by this principle. I don't try to slow down, I only try to be more efficient. To achieve more with the increased business muscle I amass. I have learned to manage clients, to identify the problem ones and the desirable ones. I use that knowledge to have a healthier mix of clients. Reducing waste in our resource allocation. I have learned the importance of having a structure and process, and now I am trying to put process around the core aspects of the business. I am currently learning to build a team. Having a technical team is a big goal for the business this year. It is a new skill I am trying to acquire -- team building and management. And I know once that is attained there will be another height to climb.

I work just as hard as I did on the first day of the business. Sometimes, even harder. It is the exact opposite of when I was in a paid employment. Even the toughest job I had that got me coming to the office on weekends to meet my assigned targets became a lot easier by my sixth month on the job. And by the end of my first year, I was cruising. I could get everything done before closing hours and had enough time to help other colleagues with their work. But in my own business, despite the stratospheric growth in my competence and skills, I am just as hard pressed for time as I was at the start. New heights are always within sight.

Succeeding in business and keeping your sanity is possible if you constantly celebrate how far you have come, but if you want to excel, to achieve your business potential then you just have to forget about the childhood memories of your business and press on to the ever present higher ground.

All the best!