Swindon & Wiltshire News
Expert opinion: Business is Brutal…
During my career, I’ve worked for a number of different organisations, some blue chip corporates, other small to medium size businesses, including not-for-profit and some charities; so I have some understanding of the pressures of business. The weeks away, the pressure of selling, the weekend working.
Working as a Coach, I’m often supporting high-performers, who feel that they have exhausted their energy reserves, worked themselves into the ground and have watched their families grow up from behind a laptop.
The pressure can be equally challenging for small business owners and entrepreneurs. They juggle client creation, customer service, financials and being a thought leader in their industry.
For most, success doesn’t come easy and requires hard work and commitment. For others, they find themselves exhausted, rejecting the business life and downshifting.
It’s safe to say that whilst owning or leading a business can be extremely rewarding, it can also be brutal…
But, what if we turned the tables on business and sought success on our own terms? What if we created a community of entrepreneurs and business leaders who rejected the brutality of business and wanted a kinder, more compassionate approach? An approach where our work supported a lifestyle that we have intentionally chosen.
Too often we mould our lifestyles around our career, or business. We sacrifice spending time with the one’s we love in the pursuit of more time to spend with the one’s we love, and so it becomes a vicious circle.
What if your business was more about ‘being’ than ‘doing’?
Crafting a lifestyle requires you to know more about what you want from life – for example, not just financial independence, but knowing what financial independence gives you. Coaching high-performers to craft a lifestyle, means helping them to hold back from the doing and supporting them to re-imagine the dream they started with, then getting behind the dream to the very essence of what the person in front of me truly wants to achieve.
So, where can you start today?
Well, it helps to craft some time out of your busy schedule to think about the lifestyle you want.
When you’ve found some time, think about the lifestyle you desire and apply the Five Why’s. Ask yourself ‘Why’ for each thought until you’ve done this five times – it can help to refine your thinking.
When you’ve gone deep enough, think through your current situation and explore how this will help you achieve your lifestyle. You may find you can make some small changes that will leverage big results. Some other things will require more structural changes, including working on mind-sets and what energises you.
The interesting thing I’ve observed, is the more you are true to the lifestyle you want, the bigger you become, the more efficient your performance and the healthier your business and your people.
If you get stuck, or would like to work this through with me, you can call me on 01793 765144 and we can schedule some time to think through the lifestyle you desire.
Matt Goddard is an Executive & Life Coach who supports professionals, entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs to go beyond their goals. For more information log on to www.changeleaf.co.uk, or call 01793 765144.
