Are you guilty of the ‘play it safe mentality’?
I personally speak to hundreds of entrepreneurs every year.
Some I coach, others I coach on various business topics, and many call me, email me, or catch me in the hallways to pick my brain.
They often ask me for the magic answer to help them grow their business.
You know the magic pill that will solve all your business problems.
It is a normal question. A question I asked myself many times.
But not now.
In the last thirty years of coaching and business coaching, there is only one thing you really have to do and that is…
Take a reality check.
A reality check to see what works (keep it) and what doesn’t (stop it).
This will help you begin to clarify where you are.
The next step is to look at yourself.
I have always liked Stephen Covey’s thoughts in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
The First Three Habits surround the move from dependence to independence (i.e., self-control):
They are:
1 – Be proactive
Stop being reactive waiting for something to happen. Get on the front foot.
Do what you know you must do.
2 – Begin with the end in mind
Visualize what you want in the future so that you can work and plan to achieve it.
Change your life to act and be proactive. Grow up and stay humble.
3 – Put First Things First
Establish your Priorities according to what should be done in your business.
1) Important and Urgent
2) Important and not Urgent
3) Not important and urgent
4) Not important and not urgent
You can easily do this.
But guess that.
We self-sabotage.
We have what I call a Play safe minded.
This is where we don’t want to take any chances.
We sit down and see what happens when something new comes on the market or
wait until it stabilizes.
Playing it safe in the business you are in is dangerous. Playing it safe doesn’t work.
- You need to take risks;
- You have to risk it. You know it!
- You need to innovate;
- You have to keep moving forward.
Yes, it is true that if you take risks and keep moving forward you will be wrong.
You will fail and fall from time to time; You can’t help it, but no.
The truth is, if you’re not making mistakes as you go, you’re not learning.
You are playing too safe.
Walter Riso once said:
“Failure is not a crime. Not learning from your failure is the crime.”
Find your mistake and correct it.
So why don’t you take a risk? Here is the main reason.
You think of all the things that could go wrong.
You look at the long term picture, it’s too, too difficult, too long to get there.
It is known as the Negative Mental Rehearsal.
Here’s a way to get over it.
Take it step by step. Steps that are easier to take, easier to understand, easier to accept.
Take small profits instead of focusing on missing the bigger target.
And here’s the trick: Reward your little successes. Small victories lead to big victories.
When you start to take risks, and please do, do what is easy first and set small profits.
If you make a mistake, learn from it.
If you don’t learn from your mistakes, you will repeat them.
I witness how business owners don’t take risks.
Often because they go through a negative mental rehearsal.
It is like the golfer who arrives at the water trap and knows when was the last time he hit the ball in the water. He is concentrating on the water again and mentally rehearsing his ball by plonking.
He hits the ball and actually plonks.
Instead, you should have focused on where the ball is going to land on the other side of the water trap: on the fairway.
An experienced climber does not look at the ravine below with dead rocks sticking out of the raging waters when they come to cross the flimsy and unstable rope bridge.
They look at the spans of the rope bridge to know where to place their feet on each step.
They focus on where they want to be, not where they don’t want to be.
The secret is…
Don’t look where you don’t want to go. Look at the steps you have to take to achieve your vision.
But if you want to be in a better place than today you have to stop. The mindset of playing it safe.
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