Posted on January 17, 2012, 5:55 pm, by robertbritz
How could who you are NOT affect your business is the real question. Some people just seem to be successful. They constantly seem to win, dress the part every day, are probably fit and have great attitudes whether they’re winning or losing. How is all that possible?
It all starts with ice. Actually an iceberg if you will. You see all of us live like icebergs showing only a small part of who we are above the water line. How these people behave helps us predict how they’re going to act in various situations; it’s about what they do. Below the waves are a myriad of factors that governs what happens above the surface. If you were to dive down and look beneath the water’s surface of one of these successful people, you’d be surprised what you’d discover.
The first thing we’d see is that they have a net full of SKILLS. Skills they learned in college, skills they learned from experience, and things they just learned from life. All of us have skills stacked and sorted, some of them used, some of them not so much. The more skills you can use in your day, the more effective you’ll be in business and in life. Use what you’ve got.
A few feet further down and you’d run into their BELIEFS. Beliefs are simply things that are held to be true but are not proven by facts. For many people their faith or spirituality is just that. But used in life, these beliefs become powerful assumptions that are applied to every situation. It may be called the lens through which people view the world. These beliefs impact which skills we acquire and which skills we use in creating the behavior for each situation. Limiting beliefs are also just as real. If you believe you are not good in sales, that may be something you believe but may not be proven out by fact. Beliefs are like the gas and brake pedals on a car, propelling us forward if the message is positive, or limiting us if it’s not.
Dropping another few feet in the water we find VALUES. Values are the things that tell a successful person why they do what they do. For example:
- If you enjoy the use of money you’d be considered utilitarian in nature, appreciating what money does.
- If you constantly seek knowledge for knowledge sake, reading book after book, taking course after course, earning degree upon degree, you’d be motivated by knowledge itself.
- If the most important thing to you is harmony in the workplace or the home, then an aesthetics motivation would keep the peace.
- If you strive to be a winner, you may enjoy the limelight and want to be compensated for your contribution to the team – people like this tend to be individualistic in their goals and motivations.
Looking back into history, the law or other bodies of documented success take a more traditional view and are motivated by the anchors of society and methods. Finally there are the social animals who derive much of their worth and well-being through encouraging and being with others. They bring the party to the rest of the world and enjoy doing it in every way. The good news is most of us are motivated by our top two of the six values listed. Successful business owners can be any of these combinations because they are driven by their beliefs which are applied to their skills and expressed in their behavior.
Lastly and most important near the bottom of the mass of ice is our identity. Identity is often in successful people, tied to their role. They are defined by their assumed dentity. Some options you may choose could include: SUCCESSFUL, HUMBLE, CARING, SLOW TO ANGER, RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL, HEALTHY, HUSBAND, WIFE, PARTNER, ATTENTIVE, PEACEFUL, CLEAN, SON, DAUGHTER, MENTOR, GROUNDED, WEALTHY, OUTDOORSMAN, ARTIST, NON-JUDGMENTAL, PROBLEM SOLVER, FRIEND. Each of these might be a part of your identity (Take a moment and write down yours).
I put success first because most people who are in business want to be successful. The problem with success is you can’t acquire it, you can only attract it to you by being the type of person that desires it. The same is true of wealth, love or money. You have to attract these things by being the type of person who has the same dreams and motivations as those who are those things.
So ask yourself, “What’s my dream identity? How is it different perhaps than who I am now?”
What do you want out of life anyway? Make yourself a Dream Board with clips from magazines that represent who you WANT to be, and put it up on your office wall 22 x 34” so you can see it daily.
What makes up the dreams you have assuming you’ve given yourself permission to lean back and dream? Who else is personally involved in your dream attainment? What are you reading? Do you have a dream board? Who do you share your dreams with? Do you keep a list or a journal and check them off when they become real? Then, do you dare to dream again?
Identity is fascinating when you find a business owner who has dreams and is living them. I met a businessman in San Francisco about business coaching. Already successful, I asked him what one thing he did to ensure his success. Earning over $600,000 per year, every year for the past 8 years, he leaned back and said it was simple. It almost always is simple. This man made a “To Achieve” list every Monday and spent 3-4 hours deciding what and to whom he could delegate among his staff of 125 employees. He kept only the most important 1-2 for himself and worked the rest of the week on those only- a pattern of success worth replicating down the line. His identity was that of a successful leader, who trusted his employees explicitly and whose business grew beyond his and his wife’s wildest dreams.
So now that you’re in deep, let’s look at how all this puts itself together. The results you have today are from the behaviors you have exhibited. What you Do creates what you Have. Most people when asked how to double their income would say Do more–Do Double to Have Double.
The truth is, you have to Be a different person to Do things differently, to Have what your goals indicate that you want. Create an Identity Shift to Be that new person that you’re dreams say you are. Start with a dream board and give yourself permission to dream…
Wait! That’s not practical, that’s not possible you say? Now that’s a limiting Belief that should be worked on.
