Our friends over at startup share some amazing tips on what habits you need to stop if you want your business to succeed. Success is not achieved overnight. Successful entrepreneurs achieve success through a cycle of good habit, discipline and focus that is maintained throughout years of work.
If you want to be one, the first thing to avoid is an erratic schedule. People who are successful, even those who are not entrepreneurs, usually maintain a daily working routine to help them maximize their time and overall productivity while also maintaining windows for socialization and leisure time.
Aside from that, you need to stop the following habits below and divert it to a more rewarding activity that can ultimately lead you to entrepreneurial success.
1. Setting too Many Goals
Building a business really entails a lot of plans and to-dos, but you don’t have to set different goals all at once or else you might get lost along the way. It is important that you create a business with a one-track mind, and set your sights on one true goal.
It is not recommended however to set generic goals such as “to make more money,” or “to be the best provider of bags” or whatever industry you are in. Goal-setting starts with how you would like to position your business and include specifics like aiming to be “the one-stop provider for tech tools in the New Bay area,” or something like that. Once you defined your one true goal, live and breathe by it in all aspects of doing your business.
2. Spending Much Time in Social Media or Emails
A lot of hours are wasted in answering unnecessary emails and browsing through the endless abyss of social media. As a result, it could hamper your day to day productivity. Using social media and emails peruse are not generally discouraged as they can be used as channels for communication between you, the employees and customers, but using it excessively is not recommended too.
Social Media however may provide you with a little relief and entertainment from hours of work, and that’s okay. Just be mindful of the minutes you spend–it should be just around 30 minutes or less during work periods.
3. One-Dimensional Approach to Problems
Every business encounters problems and bad times especially when everything is not going as planned, and when revenues are lower than expected. When dealing with these problems, it can be easily forgotten that the problem should also be viewed from the customer’s perspective, a third-party provider’s perspective, and your employee’s perspective.
Seeing problems from your own company’s perspective is more or less the initial reaction, but don’t forget to incorporate the problem from a customer’s journey, or even those from your own team. There may have been little things along the way that the company might have overlooked, but are picked up by these people because it is what matters to them.
4. Inflexibility
Sticking to one goal does not mean that you should be inflexible when it comes to the means of achieving it. Remember, many big-time companies have come and gone due to the inability to adapt or get ahead of the competition and trends.
So keep your eyes open. If you come across a new method that can improve your services, make use of it. If your customers would prefer a different approach, find ways to meet them half-way. Be true to your goal, but be flexible with your means.
5. Loafing and Blaming
Loafing basically means procrastinating. Many of us usually make different excuses just to delay a task. Some entrepreneurs would say that they “will start once the market gets better,” or “I will set this up when I have the time to do so.” Ultimately, this results to a delay and a lot of missed opportunities. The best time to start is always now.
When it comes to failures however, it is easy to just pass the blame to an employee or the economy. Successful entrepreneurs and team leaders make use of crucial time to look for fixes and remedies to the problem, they don’t waste any time by finding who’s to blame or by passing the blame to a subordinate.
6. Overworking
Most of us think that working more hours will help us get more work done during the day. This may be true if it is not done on a daily basis, and an urgent matter really needs to get done for that certain day. Yet devoting more than 8 hours a day to pure work will eventually burn you out. It will ultimately affect your overall productivity and enthusiasm.
Successful people know when to work hard and when to play hard. Work-life balance is still essential even for entrepreneurs. You need some time off to get away from work so the moment you get back to them the next day, you’ll have a fresh mind and a good sense of enthusiasm to continue them.
7. Isolation
Even though you need to keep your strategies and crucial company trades secret, it does not mean that you should altogether avoid reaching out to different business leaders inside and outside your niche.
Building a good network of business relationships is a skill that entrepreneurs should develop at the early stages of establishing the business. Networking can provide you with information that can be relevant to your market, and even provide you with opportunities for expansion.
8. Being Dictated by “Aha” Moments
There are times when a brilliant idea hits us hard, that we tend to get over excited at the prospect of incorporating it right away. However, this should not be the case. Successful entrepreneurs should not be dictated by overflowing emotions and sudden whims that can affect business decision-making.
A good idea is a good idea, but remind yourself that you are running a business. You need to ask yourself if the idea will fit the end goal, or if employing that idea will not obstruct your company’s productivity pace.
9. Overthinking
Overthinking usually leads you to negative thoughts and it may create an imagined fear that will deter you from putting your plans to work. You can overthink, but just make sure it is for the purpose of providing yourself a fallback or as what most people call it, a Plan B.
10. Being Easily Discouraged
Failure is inevitable, but it is only permanent if you allow it to be. In every failure you encounter, there are always lessons to be picked up that can help you do better next time. Being easily discouraged will put you in permanent failure, but you can always make that failure temporary by trying your best once again.
Building up these habits should be done gradually. There’s no need to pressure yourself, a good habit is not also established overnight. Like success, it is built by a cycle of discipline and focus during long periods of time.
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