Success by design
Keep your business resolutions with reflection, planning, timelines and follow-through.
January dawns in a flurry of good intentions, resolution-setting, goal-defining doggedness. The streets fill with newbies testing out their jogging legs, and gym memberships hit a year-long high. Yet come February, exercise gear is discarded, old habits return and self-loathing sneaks in.
One big hurdle to keeping resolutions is having grand visions without adequate follow-through.
Photography © Yoga Portraiture
To go from a handful of students per yoga class or three massage bookings per day to packed-to-capacity needs more than good intentions and short bursts of energy. It requires adequate planning, the methodical break-down of goals into small tasks and corresponding timeline for adherence.
Planning makes perfect
Too many small business owners think planning is secondary to doing. For the time-strapped, planning may feel like a luxury. But planning is the cornerstone of any success; you need to visualise your magnificent future AND take steps.
Ask yourself –
Now do it
Ideally, you have a business mentor whose opinions you respect. Give them your answers to the above questions, talk through any potential pit-falls and opportunities you may have missed and break down your goals into sizeable, doable actions with a deadline for achieving these by.
Now do it. Avoid using missed deadlines as an excuse to beat yourself up. There may be perfectly valid reasons not to achieve a particular task if an even better opportunity revealed itself and you adjusted direction. Remember, achieving a deadline is about creating your business success, happiness and satisfaction in achieving greater wellbeing for others. It’s a blessing, not a punishment.
Shine your sankalpa in the direction of your dreams
Yogis are often asked to create a sankalpa, or spiritual resolve, for class. A sankalpa is likely to be the reason you started your wellbeing business and, ideally, informs all your big business decisions. It is not at odds with creating a profitable business; on the contrary, a profitable business is a business likely to reach far more people to guide them towards greater wellbeing.
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To receive our E-news fresh to your inbox once a month, in all its HTML glory, please subscribe. And as a thank you, you'll receive our 'Facebook Cheat Sheet for Yoga teachers' to use Facebook more effectively and escape the time sink. While you can access our E-news without being a subscriber, we value our subscribers and show our appreciation with exclusive offers.
See more E-news.
January dawns in a flurry of good intentions, resolution-setting, goal-defining doggedness. The streets fill with newbies testing out their jogging legs, and gym memberships hit a year-long high. Yet come February, exercise gear is discarded, old habits return and self-loathing sneaks in.
One big hurdle to keeping resolutions is having grand visions without adequate follow-through.
Photography © Yoga Portraiture
To go from a handful of students per yoga class or three massage bookings per day to packed-to-capacity needs more than good intentions and short bursts of energy. It requires adequate planning, the methodical break-down of goals into small tasks and corresponding timeline for adherence.
Planning makes perfect
Too many small business owners think planning is secondary to doing. For the time-strapped, planning may feel like a luxury. But planning is the cornerstone of any success; you need to visualise your magnificent future AND take steps.
Ask yourself –
- What worked in 2010 that you would like much more of?
- What didn’t work that you wish had and could it be adapted to work better?
- How can you further help your existing clients and give them reasons to keep returning?
- Are you bringing in enough new clients and retaining them?
- If your business continues as it has done in 2010, where would you be in five years’ time? (Try emailing your future self with http://futureme.org). Is this in line with your objectives and values?
Now do it
Ideally, you have a business mentor whose opinions you respect. Give them your answers to the above questions, talk through any potential pit-falls and opportunities you may have missed and break down your goals into sizeable, doable actions with a deadline for achieving these by.
Now do it. Avoid using missed deadlines as an excuse to beat yourself up. There may be perfectly valid reasons not to achieve a particular task if an even better opportunity revealed itself and you adjusted direction. Remember, achieving a deadline is about creating your business success, happiness and satisfaction in achieving greater wellbeing for others. It’s a blessing, not a punishment.
Shine your sankalpa in the direction of your dreams
Yogis are often asked to create a sankalpa, or spiritual resolve, for class. A sankalpa is likely to be the reason you started your wellbeing business and, ideally, informs all your big business decisions. It is not at odds with creating a profitable business; on the contrary, a profitable business is a business likely to reach far more people to guide them towards greater wellbeing.
* * *
To receive our E-news fresh to your inbox once a month, in all its HTML glory, please subscribe. And as a thank you, you'll receive our 'Facebook Cheat Sheet for Yoga teachers' to use Facebook more effectively and escape the time sink. While you can access our E-news without being a subscriber, we value our subscribers and show our appreciation with exclusive offers.
See more E-news.
