“The first step in solving any problem is realizing there is one” – “stories of Susan, Wallace, and Dennis,” (Roger Knapp and the National Institute of Mental Health).
This may come as a shock to my fellow marketers…
You know, I have to admit I’m not the most consistent person in the world when it comes to business for myself.
I’ll work my butt off and go above and beyond for clients all day long; I’ll work non-stop for days at a time without sleep for someone else; even work all-nighters back to back to create a tool for someone else’s needs.
Right now as I’m sitting here, I’m finishing up two marketing campaigns for two clients that has stemmed from weeks of tedious market research, in the process of creating another for a new client, and building a brand new website for yet another.
There is no limit to how much work, effort and time I will put in for my clients. This is what has kept me in business and working from home for so many years.
My work ethic has branded me with a reputation I’m actually very proud of. I’m known in business circles as “a good man to have in your pocket.”
My newest client searched for me for a long time, even though we both had bad experiences being scammed by the same person. We both lost time and money, but he looked for me anyway. Why?
Because of my work ethic and reputation. Even during the worst part of that bad experience, I continued working without money to make sure he got what he needed.
While that work ethic and reputation is good to have, there is a dark side to my personality that people just don’t know about me, and I have to admit that it has kept me from becoming a millionaire and living my dreams to the fullest.
What is that flaw?
When it comes to doing those things for me; building my own business, selling my own products and services, and all-around doing for myself what I do for others, I have been the laziest person I know.
I have come up woefully short.
Don’t get me wrong, I do alright for my situation. I get by well enough. I have savings that’s set aside and being invested in for things like my health and a new car, I help my family with bills and spending cash when they need it, and I even have a few months’ living expenses set aside in case of an emergency.
I do alright – but I rarely do great.
My flaw is that I always settle for doing alright, and never push myself beyond that unless there is something that needs to be done.
This is the big obstacle I am working on overcoming. It’s a mental problem – a thinking problem – a mindset problem.
I make excuses for myself. I say things like “I over think things” or “I over do things” and while I do actually do those things, I let them become excuses that hold me back.
I also let past bad experiences shape core beliefs that I hold on to, and they have a ripple effect, affecting every other belief that stems from the prior ones.
In the end, they compound themselves and are bigger than my desire to do better for myself. That mindset doesn’t exist when I do for others.
In that, I really am a good man to have in your pocket, because there are no mental barriers holding me back and I can do anything for you.
But it does exist when I do for myself. I essentially cage myself in a mental cell. It is more than limiting my potential; it is crippling it.
Anyone who’s watch The Newsroom will have heard this quote; “The first step in solving any problem is realizing there is one”
What people don’t know is where it came from.
It comes from The stories of Susan, Wallace, and Dennis, stories told in a book by Roger Knapp and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Yes, poor thinking is a mental problem in the literal sense of the word too, and I have identified mine.
I have a very poor, limiting mindset when it comes to working for myself.
That mindset is costing me 10’s of thousands of dollars, possibly millions, and even more than that, it is a disservice to myself, my family, my team and others who rely on me, (by not living up to my potential).
This is the proverbial thorn in my side and what I will overcome in 2015.
Being mindful of my problem, the solution is discipline. Training myself to treat myself as good as, or better than I treat a client. I have to become my own client in my mind.
Changing how you think is a process, and I can go into a long and detailed discussion of how the brain works physically, but that wouldn’t change the work that needs to be done in building a new discipline.
Financial success is everyone’s goal, whether you’re looking for a little bit of money to pay off some bills, to paying for college, going on vacation, giving to charity… or aiming at becoming a multi-millionaire like I am.
What I knew, but didn’t understand is that in order to build that new discipline; in order to change my mindset I would have to surround myself with people that think the way I need to, have the money I want to make, and ultimately do the things I have to do.
For a lot of people it’s a new step, but for me I was already doing it and stopped. In my case, I had to go back to what I was doing before.
Since it is true that “the first step in solving any problem is realizing there is one“, the solution I’m using to solve it started right here >>.
Follow the link above to find out more about what I’m doing to get past my “mental roadblock” and the actions I’m taking to not only get past them, but also using to achieve my financial goals.
