There’s no magic formula to help you achieve your business goals faster, but you’ll be well on your way by avoiding these bad habits. As an entrepreneur, there are plenty of good things that make you successful. Your creativity, your single-mindedness, and your drive to be successful are three that spring to mind. However, just because you have these traits doesn’t mean you’re flawless.
So, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, it’s time to cut out the bad habits that can kill you and your career. But, you have to know what they are before you can make any real change. So, below are the four things to avoid if you want to be successful.
JEALOUSY
We, women, have inherited and learned a certain jealousy by nature that is anchored in our subconscious mind. If we literally look at the word jealousy then that also means envy. It is a state of mind or emotion in which one wishes to get what another has already received, or wishes that the other did not have. This can concern both matter and character as well as relationships.If the other person is seen as an equal, the jealousy will be worse, because the jealous person assumes that he or she deserves to have what has been received/achieved by the other.
It is possible to find out if this is affecting your personality and the way you run your business. A state of mind or emotion is stored in our subconscious and reacts faster than our conscious thinking. If we learn to consciously deal with our subconscious, we can save a lot of suffering and time. It is possible that the success of a person who you consider as an equal can become your motivation. Jealousy can be un-learned.
BOUNDARIES
Often times, women entrepreneurs fall into a trap of having to be there for everyone and pride themselves in their ability to multitask and put everyone else’s needs first. This is a very bad habit, and as such damaging to business. There are many reasons why this is, and the root cause differs from woman to woman. Many women tend to over extend themselves and end up burning out, thus not being able to take care of their own business. Having strong boundaries is essential. If you want your business to thrive, you must stay strong, focused and have firm boundaries. When you are an entrepreneur and your own boss, working from home, with no fixed hours, you can easily be pulled into running errands for friends and family, doing odd jobs here and there. Remember just because you don’t have fixed hours and traditional working hours, doesn’t mean you have nothing to do. On the contrary, you have a lot to do, as you are an employee and a boss. A role not many people can balance, therefore cultivating the habit of discipline, time management is of the essence. Be firm. Stay in your power. Own your time.
PROMISING TOO MUCH
Even if we know that we have exceptionally limited resources it can be so tempting to say yes to an exciting opportunity or when a costumer asks for help.
Many times it can really pay off to think twice before you make a commitment out of the ordinary, especially at times when your schedule is already full, as it can unfold with the opposite effect if things are not turning out as expected. As a entrepreneur you are likely to be a visionary problem solver and inside your head everything is possible and you know exactly how to handle it. When it formalizes into reality it is unfortunately not always as simple as you imagined and the time and the resources you will use to fulfill it you will most likely have to take away from something else and the risk is that things will unfold more like a mess than a success.
Avoid promising to much will also help you maintain your integrity to appear as a loyal person who keeps what you promise and will save you from exhausting yourself.
MULTI-TASKING
One habit that female entrepreneurs must avoid is……well actually there are three that spring to mind. Procrastination, saying yes and multi-tasking.
The first Procrastination, women and actually most entrepreneurs have creative ideas and sometimes get caught up in the detail, get stuck and are then unable to move forward. To overcome this, we have to constantly look at the bigger picture. What works, is to surround ourselves with incredible and amazing people who are better than us in areas where we are not so strong. They can fill in the gaps for us, dot the I’s and cross the T’s. As entrepreneurs we have to have a free thinking and flowing mind in order to make things happen. This is the creative process. When we get caught up in the detail, we go round in circles rather than plough ahead.
Second, women in general are people pleasers and so often find no a difficult word to deliver. No is good because it shows others where your boundaries are. It signals to those around you that you are focussed, keep on track and avoid getting distracted. Many women are side tracked by something interesting and meander away form their vision.
And finally, and related to the yes point, women are created to multi-task. It is in our DNA. We take care of the house, mind the children, care for our men, conduct a career… This is a double edged sword that can take us down a rabbit hole. Also when you multi-task, in actual fact, all the balls you are juggling could come tumbling down, and tasks take longer overall to complete. The end result is, many jobs cease to be completed and we wear ourselves out quicker, so not ideal. Who wants to be super woman anyway?
