Mastery: The foundation every great business is built On.
By Craig Lourens.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, every problem feels bigger than it really is.”
The biggest misconception about business growth is that growth starts with marketing, sales, systems or hiring people. To put it simply, it doesn’t. Growth starts with a critical assessment of where you are now, taking the time to inspect the foundation upon which your business is built and plot the way forward in a systematic, prioritised way.
This is where growth begins. Before you can scale, build systems, develop teams or create freedom, you need clarity. The clarity of the current situation, without it, growth only amplifies chaos.
First step, identify the Chaos. Many business owners are so busy fighting fires they don’t stop to ask a simple question: Where is the chaos coming from? Is it:
- Constant cash flow pressure?
- Lack of direction?
- People problems?
- Too much dependency on the owner?
- Inconsistent sales?
- No systems? Or
- Unclear priorities?
And then to realise that when the chaos is detected, chaos isn’t the problem. Chaos is the symptom. And before you can fix it, you need to know where the chaos fit in the big picture. Where is the priority? What do you start solving first?
ActionCOACH gives us a model to guide us while making this decision. Mastery is at the heart of the model. Mastery of where you’re going, mastery of how you manage your time, mastery of how you manage money in the business, mastery of how you deliver to the market what you promised. Many owners want to get right into building a team or scale up. But without Mastery, you’re just scaling up confusion. Mastery of the base foundations allows you to see where the bottleneck is and what you need to tackle. But before you can grow, you have to know where you are going.
The basis of mastery is destination.
As Dan Sullivan often says: “Your future should always be bigger than your past.”
Each successful business has a destination. And not just annual goals. Not next month’s turnover. But a compelling vision. What does business look like in 20 years? Without this guiding light, you will always feel like the urgent is the priority. We are taught to focus on priority, and then when you focus on “false priority” you’ll immediately notice that activity is replacing real progress.
A vision is the guide that guides you. It allows for true prioritisation. In fact a good vision gives you meaning for what you are doing. And when you have meaning, energy comes and so better decisions.
You will find that people don’t commit to goals, they commit to futures they can see. The clearer your goal is, the easier it is for others to commit to these goals and reduce distractions.
As we move toward our goals we should always measure our progress.
Living in the Gain, Not the Gap.
One of Dan Sullivan’s best insights from The Gap and the Gain is that most entrepreneurs measure themselves wrong. They compare themselves to a certain ideal. They focus on how far they have to go. In other words, they live in “The Gap.” And living in the Gap creates frustration, stress and feeling like you are never enough.
Dan teaches us to live in “The Gain.” Take a look back at how far you’ve come. Always remember to celebrate the progress you’ve made and the things you’ve developed. Appreciate the wins. The business owner who is able to live in the Gain has confidence. Confidence is what drives growth and progress and progress is what drives momentum.
As Dan says: “The only person you should compare yourself with is the person you were yesterday.”
If we learn to measure ourselves against who we are yesterday, and not against anyone else, we’ll start to make a new identity for the person we need to become in the future. Accept Your New Identity.
Benjamin Hardy tells you that your future is not based on your current circumstances, but who you choose to be and what you want to be.
So ask yourself: Who do you want to become? Who do you need to become? Not someday. NOW.
We have 4 guiding principles which have set the standard for us to grow and become stronger:
- Courage. The courage to be there before there is a certainty. Vision needs courage. Growth needs courage. Reinvention has to be courageous. You cannot make a bigger future while clinging to the comfort of the past.
- Confidence. Confidence doesn’t come before action. It comes from action. Every commitment made builds self-confidence. Every promise kept adds to belief. Confidence is evidence that is accumulated over time.
- Commitment. Most people are interested. High performers are committed. Commitment means your standards don’t change with your emotions. You do what you have to do because that’s who you are.
- Capability. Capability develops through challenge. No one starts with the ability to create bigger businesses. Capability is earned.
At every stage of growth you need to grow a new version of yourself.
Your Vision Requires a New Identity. Mastery is where it really starts. Not with strategies. Not with KPIs. Not with dashboards… With identity. The business you have today is perfectly suited for the person you are today. So if you want to build the business you want tomorrow, you have to become the person who can lead it. Accept the identity of the future you.
At ActionCOACH we coach you to accept the identity your Vision requires, and we provide you with the 6 Step formula to deliver your plan. You can contact me now for more on how this works.
Craig Lourens
ActionCOACH