The biggest competitor you have, every day of the week, is not what you think it is. The biggest competitor is inertia. No matter how successful you are, there is never a day that you can take a back seat and decide that you’re there – and that is IF you’re successful already. If you’re in the other 95% of businesses, you’re working flat out every day to stay ahead of the pack and keep your momentum going.
Here are my top four tips to build momentum:
1. Persevere! Failures are merely “learning adventures”. As Henry Ford said, “Failure gives us the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” If you fail don’t stand around for too long licking your wounds. Take a deep breath, dust yourself (or your team) off, and move on.
2. Pay attention. One of the key attitudes you need to cultivate is constantly paying attention to what’s going on around you. I call this business mindfulness. Sometimes when you’re concentrating on what you’re doing, you miss important stuff. The more present you are, the more you’ll notice opportunities.
3. Continuously course-correct. We all make mistakes. The more honest we are, the more likely we’ll avoid mistakes or recognise them immediately and be able to clean them up quickly. A clearer vision results in better decisions. This also goes for your team too. When you have an attitude of course correction, they will too.
4. Celebrate success. You took the risk; now give yourself the reward. What’s a compelling way to reward yourself and your team? It may be a night out together, or going to the spa with your best client — or simply taking a day off. Whatever it is, celebrate! It will make the work worth it.
