The #1 Reason You Cannot Get Ahead In Your Business

The #1 reason you can’t get ahead in your business is you don’t know how to take the next step. Whether that is you don’t know how to build a prototype, market yourself, find clients, get funding or any of the endless challenges every business owner faces. Don’t let your fear of lack of knowledge be the enemy of action.

If you’re thinking you don’t know what to do next I call BS. You do know what to do, and even if you’re not completely sure do the thing you think you should. It’s probably right or really close, and if not then you’ll learn from it, adjust and take a different action. The “secret” to so many great business successes is they trust themselves to take an action despite not fully knowing.

That’s what most of us do every day — we take calculated risks in every area of our life and most of them are small and work out. They’re risks because you didn’t know exactly what would happen. You weighed your options, made a decision and took a subsequent action based on your best judgment.

when it comes to your business you have amnesia of all the daily risks you’ve taken and won.

But yet, when it comes to your business you have amnesia of all the daily risks you’ve taken and won. You forgot how far you’ve come and how much you’ve learned. Instead you’re stuck looking for the right/best/safest thing to do. You questions what you know, let other people’s opinions influence and give to much levity to every option. You’re trying to eliminate the unknown and focusing on the few things that didn’t work. You become paralyzed trying to find the “right” answer to how do you move forward.

When you find yourself in this place you’ve let fear slow you down. You circle around the how question and seek outside factors to hold your hand and safely guide you step-by-step. But that’s not going to happen — it is your fear taking over your better judgment.

we subject ourselves to situations that we don’t want because we are afraid of screwing up, taking a risk, being wrong, making a choice, failing or even succeeding.

We’re all afraid — it’s a human survival mechanism to warn us of danger and death. But most fear that modern-day humans experience set false limits and create bad habits. As a result we subject ourselves to situations that we don’t want because we are afraid of screwing up, taking a risk, being wrong, making a choice, failing or even succeeding. The fear of all these things is so common because you haven’t learned the habit of action.

Instead you’re stuck on the fear of an unknown outcome while your business grinds to a halt. Overcoming these fears and figuring out how to get ahead with your business isn’t about taking a big initial leap or about creating the perfect conditions. It is about trusting yourself to know what next step to take and making that action small enough to lessen risk, maximize feedback and maintain momentum.

If taking a big leap seems like your best option it’s because you’ve been stuck for a long time and feel the only way to get moving again is to go big. But what almost always happens is this leap leaves you more stuck and further from your goal. It doesn’t build the momentum you need and it won’t make up for the lost time you’ve given. A big leap comes from a place of pain and frustration rather than strategy and confidence.

As for those of you waiting for the perfect conditions that’s never going to happen. Perfect is the enemy of good enough, and good enough is the engine that drives every business forward. There will never be perfect conditions, you will never be fully prepared, know everything or find the perfect moment. The misguided desire for perfection conditions or a big leap both come from the same place — fear.

The only way forward and the answer to how to take the next step in your business is to trust yourself to take an action despite not fully knowing.

Action is a habit and one you need to build to grow your business.

Action is a habit and one you need to build to grow your business.To do so, start by doing less not more. Taking small steps that are easy to adjust and learn from, all the while gaining experience and momentum. Patience is key and a little now will pay off huge later. Remember that you don’t have to achieve an end goal to feel success — you just need to make forward progress.

Combine the habit of action with the ability to always trust yourself to make small commonsense choices and your business will be well on it’s way to sustaining momentum and never getting stuck on how to take the next step.

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