One day at a time

Building a business undoubtedly takes time, money and resources, and sometimes no matter how hard you’re working it can seem like you aren’t making any progress forward. For a lot of business owners, this can be discouraging and so it’s understandable that they put in less effort, see even less of a reward, and before they know it they’re giving up on it all. This doesn’t have to happen though. Taking it one day at a time is easier said than done though so here are 5 actionable ways for you to get some perspective:

1. Take an emotional inventory: Sometimes the thing that we say we’re upset about isn’t really the things that have us stressed. As a business owner it can be easy to blame something related to what you’re doing for why you’re upset, but ask yourself is that the real reason. If not, you need to focus on whatever the actual issue is.

2. Get real: The ideals that we have set up for our businesses aren’t always reflective of the external forces such as the effort we’re putting in or the current economy. Don’t look solely at whatever you may think the problem is, instead dig deeper to discover what other factors you may need to be considering.

3. See it through someone else’s eyes: Often times it’s easy to get more upset about something because it’s ours, it’s not that it’s not great, it’s just that it’s not whatever it was we may have expected it to be. This kind of perfectionism can take it’s toll though. Sometimes you have to look at your business as if it weren’t your own and think about if you’d shop there or utilize its services. If the answer is yes then the problem may not be a problem at all.

4. Ask yourself what’s working: Take the time to find the elements that are working and look at why they’re working. If possible use those same ideas in the aspects of your business that you find are lacking.

5. Look forward: Consider what it is that you can do tomorrow, next week, and next month to expand your business or make it better. By creating goals for the future you help to shift yourself into a more positive headspace by thinking about what can be instead of just what is.

Being a business owner can be daunting but it doesn’t have to stay daunting. By looking at solutions instead of problems you help to shift yourself into a more productive way of thinking.