We have all heard the quote – “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty”. Life and success in life and business does not go in a straight upward line. There are always ups and downs and bumps along the way. On countless occasions, people have said to me, “It must be great to run your own business” or “You are so lucky”. Well yes it is great to run your own business, but they only ever see the successes, they don’t see the failures. As to being lucky, I remember golfer Gary Player saying, “The more I play golf, the luckier I get”. This is a bit like being in business. We do have to have a positive attitude, we need to be optimistic, we always have to look for new opportunities, but sometimes it is difficult. Being around successful or success minded people is always a great way to keep your mind right, as is plugging into a personal development programme.
Being a small business owner, or solopreneur – if you are in business on your own – can be a very lonely place. Having networked for over 30 years, I sometimes assume that every small business owner has access to the bank of contacts that I have, but of course they don’t. A very small percentage of business owners network, and we should all network – we don’t know what we don’t know and we don’t know who we don’t know. We all want to be optimistic all the time but if we do not have anyone to talk to or bounce ideas off, it is very difficult. We are too close to the action when it comes to our own business. We don’t see opportunities that someone not directly involved in our business will see.
There are some really good tips to keep optimistic and I have highlighted these below
- ‘Try On’ a Positive Lens. – Easiest way is to put positive material in your brain
- Take Note of the Company You Keep – Hang around positive upbeat people
- Turn Off the News. – If you want to go to bed and wake up negative, watching news will do it
- Write in a Journal for a Few Minutes Each Day – Positive thoughts, action plans, Goals and dreams. Focus on the positives
- Acknowledge What You Can – and Cannot – Control – We cannot control external circumstances, so focus on YOU
- Don’t Forget to Acknowledge the Negative – It is out there but we need to dilute with positive. Always more positive than negative in your brain.
One of the biggest tips I can offer is – Do not try to do this all on your own. Seek help and support from someone who can help you. When we are not feeling in a particularly optimistic frame of mind, we need someone who can help us. The issues and problems/challenges we have in our business will not be solved with the same mindset that created them, so we need to change but we will not do this on our own. I am saying this so often, but please do it – GET HELP! If you have to pay for this help, do check the credentials of those you are asking, and look at it as in investment in you and your business and not a cost.
I am always happy to help anyone struggling in business. I do have the credentials and guarantee I will be your Knight in shining armour and not some imposter wrapped in tin foil.
Richard “Lionheart” Knight – richard@lionheartmanagement.co.uk
This article was first published on LinkedIn by Richard Knight on 23/11/2020