How do you deal with adversity in your business? Do you stick to your big vision and push forward, finding new and different ways to achieve your goals, or do you take the easy way out and sell yourself short?
Let me explain what prostitution has to do with goals. Often times, when tallying up the numbers, we get hit with a reality check, finding that we fell a little short of our BIG vision. Despite our best efforts, the grand purpose that we started out to achieve didn’t happen the way we thought.
It leaves even the strongest entrepreneur feeling deflated.
Compare that to the early days of your business when you operated your business with a sense of purpose, approaching everything you did with energy and clarity. As you started to fall a little short of your ideal; however, you felt you needed to make compromises.
Maybe it started slowly – one slightly wrong for you client here, one “just for the money” gig there – but before you knew it, that original vision, your higher purpose, was just a faint memory.
It’s what happens when we sell ourselves short. We take the short-term gains, the easy money, in lieu of investing in furthering the long-term vision. Our businesses become transactional and we lose all sense of personal fulfillment.
Before you know it, everything becomes “just for the money”. What started as a vision to serve a higher purpose, to put forward a contribution to the world, has become the simple act of prostitution.
What started it all was a feeling of lack. The fear that your higher purpose/vision was not achievable. The belief you had no choice but to make a compromise. The worst part is that while you were busy with the wrong clients, the right ones were passing you by.
How to Get Back to Your Long-Term Vision
Revisit Your Purpose – Go back to the beginning. What was your original purpose? What inspired you to start the business in the first place? What was your big vision for the company?
Filter by Purpose – Use your purpose as the litmus test for filtering new opportunities. Ask yourself, “How does this move me closer to my goal?”
Say “Yes” for the Right Reasons – Only take opportunities that move you closer to your goal. Perhaps that means taking on a short-term opportunity to build a relationship that will further your long-term goal or leaving your calendar empty while you wait for the right opportunity.
Live in Abundance – Make decisions from a feeling of abundance. If you view the world as full of possibility, opportunities will find you. The feeling of lack will only drive you to make wrong choices.
Be Okay With Saying “No” – Feel good about saying “No” to everything else that doesn’t further your goals. Part of achieving your long-term vision is leaving the space open – in your calendar, in your bandwidth, in your task list.
Need help getting clear on your higher purpose and creating the plan to achieve that BIG vision? Contact me to set up your free consultation!