Blindspots common to business owners and how to spot them
Blindspots and lack of self-awareness are real issues business owners (and everyone else too) face today. Self-awareness is a not a skill we’re deliberately taught and just because we might consider ourselves introspective, doesn’t mean that we’re actually any good at introspection! Thus, when it comes to our blindspots just trying to be more self-reflecting doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll correctly identify our own blindspots or help improve our self-awareness. In this blog we’ll discuss the blindspots most common to business owners and give you ideas on how you can spot them. Were you aware that we had this free resource? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Drum roll please, a list of common blindspots business owners have… Emotional Attachment Emotional attachment is a common blindspot we deal with as business owners. Whether it’s becoming attached to a specific project or an idea, emotional attachment can lead to going down the wrong path or refusing to acknowledge market realities. It’s an easy way for our judgement to be clouded and can be difficult to deal with if we are even able to identify it. Action Bias If we wanted to distill down how people behave we could make the argument that some people have an action default and some people have an inaction default. Yet, it’s likely that many owners have a default towards action. It’s awfully difficult to get a business up and running without having a lean into taking action. Action bias is a blindspot that is common in owners because of this. Action bias means owners will often take action before carefully considering all options – after all, any movement in a direction is better than no movement at all, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. When action bias becomes an issue it can show up in the form of impulsiveness, rash decisions or emotional decisions all of which can cause or contribute to serious business problems. Unfortunately, many owners are unaware of this blindspot and consistently react instead of being more deliberate and responsive. Work-Life Imbalance Business owners commonly struggle with work-life imbalance and yet many times they are unaware of it as a problem. Imbalance can show up in relationships, in our physical, mental and spiritual health and it can show up in the health of our business as well. We don’t believe balance needs to be 50/50 and balance for you may mean something different than balance for me. It’s equally important to understand what balance works for you and when to identify when you’re out of balance. While there are many other common blindspots owners struggle with, you should be able to get a sense of these blindspots and maybe even identify when you have fallen victim to one or more of these. Ultimately, the onus is on us as owners to be able to develop better self-awareness and gird ourselves against the dangers of blindspots. How do we do it then? We suggest not trying to do it on your own. There are many instances where working on our own and independently can lead to amazing results, typically, this is not one of those instances. Self-reflection is incredibly difficult to do on our own and we’re just as likely to exacerbate the problem as we are to mitigate it. For addressing blindspots we strongly recommend working with others and here are our top choices. Feedback Team: Getting honest and transparent feedback is difficult. Those closest to us will always deal with their own biases and those too far removed from us can’t offer truly insightful feedback. Building a team of objectively honest peers or colleagues that can offer feedback is one highly effective way to combat blindspots. Owner Advisory Boards: Blindspots can show up in many different ways, one of the most effective ways to disrupt blindspots is to gain a number of different perspectives. This can help illuminate the unknown and bring more self-awareness to us. If you’re looking for a group of peers to help you with your blindspots we encourage you to check out IVOLVE + THRIVE. We have new boards launching in January of 2024! Find out more information about our Owner Advisory Boards here. owner advisory boards IVOLVE + THRIVE CLARITY + WORTH + FREEDOM Learn more How do you deal with blindspots? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
Signs that isolation is impacting your business
Isolation for business owners means constantly carrying the weight of making the most important decisions for your business. It means decision making without outside perspective and input and it means often dealing with feelings of loneliness. Isolation can have serious consequences on business owners and is an important challenge many owners need to overcome. Here are some signs that you may be dealing with the impact of isolation on your business. Concerned about your business? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Isolation: the most common signs One of the most common signs of isolation will be difficulty in decision making. Knowing that the decisions we make as owners can have enormous consequences on our businesses, our lives and our employees makes many decisions feel critical. If you begin to struggle with making decisions you may be feeling the impact of isolation. Overthinking and ruminating are two clear indications that you may be dealing with isolation. Another common sign of isolation is burnout and emotional exhaustion. Chances are you started your business with some level of excitement and engagement. If you feel like that has eroded or disappeared entirely it may be due to emotional exhaustion. When we don’t feel we have a support system and are constantly dealing with stress and pressure we can see a serious drop in enthusiasm for our business. Feeling emotionally drained where you used to be excited is a symptom of emotional exhaustion. The last sign of isolation to keep an eye out for is increased stress and anxiety. Although this can be difficult to identify and may be symptoms of many different challenges it’s important to stay self-aware as business owners. Chronic stress and anxiety are signs that isolation may be wreaking havoc on your business and elevating the challenges of an already difficult situation. If isolation is a challenge you’re dealing with today check out our owner advisory boards! You can learn more here! owner advisory boards IVOLVE + THRIVE CLARITY + WORTH + FREEDOM Learn more How do you deal with isolation? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
3 challenges that make business owners feel like they have ADHD
Nearly 5% of children and adults struggle with ADHD. While nobody knows the cause of ADHD the symptoms can range from being unable to concentrate on tasks to hasty decision making and numerous others. ADHD is a serious mental health issue that we are in no way minimizing. Our goal is to compare how business owners may struggle with similar challenges that are commonly experienced by individuals with ADHD and to draw attention to the complex mental wellness challenges that individuals and owners face. Do you struggle at times in your business? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our gift to you and you can access it right here. Access it here! Trouble Focusing Many business owners struggle to focus on the most important priorities in their business. Business owners with busy schedules and multiple projects may find themselves flipping between activities and projects frequently without often stopping to consider the importance and urgency of each task and project. When struggling with focus it’s important to carve out time to properly plan and prioritize. Find a quiet place to review all of the moving pieces. If you struggle to do this on your own it can be helpful to bring on an outside coach or consultant to help with the work. Impulsivity Impulse control can be something that many individuals struggle with and business owners are no different. Whether it’s hiring, investing resources, or launching new products it’s easy to ‘chase the squirrel’ AKA fall victim to distractions from your primary goals. To minimize impulsivity in business it may make sense to have a detailed business plan to fall back on or a board of advisors to help you identify when you are straying from your original intentions. Organization Staying organized, remembering appointments and deadlines, keeping neat workspaces free of clutter can be a serious struggle for owners. We strongly recommend outsourcing, delegating and automating whenever possible to minimize the impact of struggling with organization. By implementing all 3 of these concepts into your business you can reduce some of the overload that business owners commonly experience and help remain better organized. How do you deal with some of these symptoms? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
From Reactive to Proactive: Cultivating Intention
Acting with intention is extremely important to professionals and leaders and there are tremendous benefits that derive from being intentional. Intention comes with better decision making and discernment of opportunities, enhanced productivity, and improved focus. On the flip side, when we start to act without intention, we end up struggling with challenges like being reactive and feeling under increased pressure, wrestling with overwhelm and losing out on game-changing opportunities. In this blog we’ll discuss how we can go from being reactive to proactive and cultivate intention for ourselves and our teams. Be intentional with your business! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you Access it here! Let’s look at some practical strategies for cultivating intention in our day-to-day. 1. Set a long-term plan Long term plans are essential if we want to cultivate intention in our daily lives. It’s also important to break down the long-term plan into manageable decisions and goals that we can achieve daily. Small, manageable goals will help us act with great intention and keep ourselves pointed to the true north of our long-term plan. Also read: The Problems with Short Term Thinking and Why We Need a Long Term Perspective 2. Be mindful There are so many benefits that come from being mindful. One of the greatest must be the ability to control our immediate reactions to events as they unfold. The very best professionals and leaders have adopted and become excellent at absorbing information and asking questions before they allow their emotions and impulses to take over. By being mindful we can move from being reactive to being responsive. When we’re responsive we’re able to make the best decisions and we can find ourselves being proactive more often instead of being reactive, which is a slippery slope. When it comes to creating a culture of intention in a team or organization here are a couple of tips as well 1. Be consistent Cultivating intention requires consistency from leadership. Creating a culture that eliminates micro-management allows a leader to trust their employees to be intentional with their decision making. Since results from decisions can, and often are, different than we expect, it’s important to let our teams know that the intention behind the decision-making process is of utmost importance. 2. Eliminate Excuses and Yes People Intention requires courage and for effective leadership we need our team to be able to move and act with courage to be proactive. Very few things are more dangerous to a business or team than excuse making and people who are acting out of fear instead of being intentional when sharing their thoughts. The most successful businesspeople in the world are rarely the smartest person in the room. Be sure to encourage a culture of accountability and discourse to build a team that is intentional and proactive. How do you cultivate intention in your life or for your teams? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
Cultivating Executive Presence – A Guide for Executives and Professionals
Leadership is a skill set requiring us to constantly sharpen the ax. Developing and refining the skills of leadership has a serious return on how our team, and we, perform. Within the sphere of leadership, executive presence plays an important role of how we handle challenges and how people perceive us. In our blog we’ll explore how we can cultivate a stronger executive presence to enhance your leadership skills. We spend a lot of time cultivating the information in our guide for entrepreneurs and we’re offering it as a gift for you. We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Executive presence can feel intangible and yet it is made up of very tangible components such as gravitas, decision making, appearance, confidence, awareness, and communication. The benefits of executive presence extend to inspiring confidence in your team, projecting authority and engage others. We’ll outline some tools you can use to develop your executive presence to the next level. 1. Appearance Although executive presence requires much more than a ‘good’ appearance, we often make impressions within half a second and appearance counts. For executive presence it’s less about defining what ‘good’ means and more about making sure we are well groomed, conscientious, and diligent in our appearance. This means that the initial driver of executive presence means preparing how we want others to view us before we ever set foot in a room (virtual or real) with them. Dress well and with intention Maintain excellent personal hygiene and grooming Display strong posture and body language 2. Confidence Confidence is the foundation of executive presence. Confidence can be established physically, vocally, and mentally. It provides your team with inspiration and security and helps you cement loyalty. Have faith in your decisions regardless of results Accept responsibility for your actions and your teams Be willing to take risks Also read: How to find and grow your confidence Tips To Build Confidence Quickly 3. Awareness If confidence is the foundation of executive presence, then awareness is the cornerstone. Understanding our own skill set, how we react and respond and how others perceive us is essential if we want to better develop our executive presence. Create a feedback loop and receive feedback from transparent and trustworthy people Understand your triggers and the red flags that identify when you are reacting instead of responding Review and assess your own skills and repeat the behaviors that are beneficial Also read: Self-Awareness: Do You Have It? Self Awareness And How You Self-Sabotage Yourself Every DayTips To Build Confidence Quickly How do you develop your executive presence? Let us know your thoughts, you can email us at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your soft skills to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
The Role of Passion in Business
What if we said there was a trait you could have as a business owner or professional that would keep your employees more engaged, attract your ideal customers and raving fans, magnify your resiliency and level up your creativity? There is, and it’s called passion. Passion plays an important role in business today as entrepreneurs and service-based professionals. Passion in business will drive loyal customers and employees, level up your creativity and magnify your grit. Let’s dig in! If you’re passionate about success, we have a free gift for you! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Role #1 – Passion Inspires Business owners and professionals that are passionate drive loyal customers and retain loyal teams. People love to follow passion and businesses with passionate client’s and employees. Evidence suggests that businesses with a focus on passion are more successful than businesses without. Role #2 – Passion Gives You Grit It’s easier to stay motivated when we’re excited but sooner or later, we will all lose steam. Having passion will keep that fire that got you started stoked and burning hot. Business leaders with a lot of passion are better able to overcome setbacks according to a study by Gallup. Role #3 – Passion Raises Your Creativity When we’re passionate we have greater emotional investment into the work that we do. When it comes down to problem solving often, we need to get creative. Our level of emotional investment is going to be a determining factor in how easily we give up and how innovative we become when we try to solve problems. Passionate people have greater emotional investment, and this has been shown to drive greater creativity and innovation. Consider yourself passionate? Let us know at info@jbandthedoctor.com Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your time, sales, and confidence, to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
How to Know When You’re Sacrificing Too Much
We all have trade-offs occur every day. No matter what decisions we make there is a trade-off. For example, let’s say we choose to wake up early to get a strong start to the week. We are accepting that our sleep will be impacted to have more time in the day. Some sacrifices we make are greater than others. For example, we might pull an all-nighter of work to hit a necessary deadline knowing that it will have a huge impact on our overall performance later in the week. How do we know if the sacrifices and trade-offs we make are worth the cost? What if we told you there are signs you could look for that will let you know if it’s a healthy trade off or not? In our blog today we look at a couple of signs you can keep an eye out for to let you know if you’re sacrificing too much! This is a trade-off that’s worth it, 2 minutes of your time to receive our free gift to you! We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you. Access it here! Sign 1 That You’re Sacrifice Isn’t Worth It Sacrifices and trade-offs often lead to short term impact. Staying up late or waking up early for a day? Short term impact. Staying up late or waking up early for a week or longer? Long term impact. When our sacrifices and trade-offs become detrimental to our health it can be a clear ‘caution’ sign that we need to pay attention to. Keep an eye out for any developing, long term negative impacts that stem from your sacrifices. This could be a clear sign that the sacrifices aren’t worth it. Consider, staying up for 24 hours and driving produces some of the same deficiencies in reaction time as drinking and driving can. Sign 2 That You’re Sacrifice Isn’t Worth It You find yourself unbalanced and unhappy. Sacrifice means you’re giving something up, willingly. However, if the extend of what we give up leads to mental illness such as depression and anxiety, we may be trying to take on too much. There is no personal benefit to being a martyr if you can’t enjoy the results of your sacrifice. Pay attention to your mental health as you make sacrifices and be honest about. What signs do you look for to let you know that a trade-off isn’t worth it? Let us know at info@jbandthedoctor.com Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your time, sales, and confidence, to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
How to Know When To Make Changes
Our lives are dynamic and constantly evolving. So are our businesses. At times, change comes to us and at other times we need to make the changes ourselves. So how do we know when to make changes? In this week’s blog we discuss some signs that will help you know when it’s time to make a change. 6 Methods To Make Sure Your Business Doesn’t Fail Before we discuss our tips, did you know that 70% of businesses will fail? We put together a FREE guide identifying the Top 6 reasons businesses fail and give you actionable steps you can take on every one of these to make sure it’s your competition failing and not you! It’s our free gift to you and you can access it right here. You’re Bored Given enough time and with enough repetition it’s common to start feeling bored. This is a good sign that we have stopped growing and developing and it’s our soul’s method of letting us know it may be time to make a change. Just make sure you’re not jumping the gun with this one. Some boredom is natural and it’s very helpful for the creative spirit. You’re Doing Things You Don’t Want To Sometimes we find ourselves in a position where we look around and realize we’re doing a lot of things we don’t want to be doing. If this is the case, it’s a great sign to take stock and decide what changes we can make. Consistently doing things we don’t want to do is both draining and ineffective. Put energy into the things that bring joy, growth, and satisfaction. Another Part of Your Life Ended When change comes into one aspect of our life it can be a great inflection point for us to make changes in other parts of our lives. If something in your life has come to a natural end it may be a good idea to make changes in other parts of your life. We can use the disruption as a launching pad for something new! How do you know it’s time to make a change? Let us know at info@jbandthedoctor.com! Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your time, sales, and confidence, to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.
3 Reasons to Use Acting in Business
We hear a lot about authenticity, and we are big believers in being yourself. However, there are instances where we need to act, or play a role in our business to be successful. That is not just, ok, we should embrace it! Here are 3 great reasons to use acting in business! Reason 1: You need to build a culture Great businesses care about their employees not just their customers. For a business to have a strong and healthy team, it needs a culture and value system that the employees can get behind. Sometimes when a business leader needs to develop a culture, they need to take a leadership role and act in line with the community values even if it’s not in line with the leaders wants. This is a great example of needing to take on the role of leader and act in a way consistent with company values and culture. Reason 2: It’s about everyone else Great leaders recognize that having a customer centric business is essential to success. We need to be able to meet customer needs and make life easier on our customers. Sometimes that means we need to act in a way that disarms our customers. Acting in this way is providing a service for your customers since you’re helping them make a decision that solves their problems. The platinum rule is to treat others the way they want to be treated, not the way you want to treat them. Reason 3: Full honesty may cause friction We are strong believers in honesty. However, we also believe strongly in not always talking. Sometimes the right decision is to say nothing at all or to guard our words. Blunt honesty is a great virtue but it’s something few people respond to well. In instances where a little tact and compassion can go a long way, it’s often in our best interest to act if we’re debating between blunt criticism and/or honesty and a more compassionate response. Do you feel like you need to act as a professional? Let us know in our private Facebook community, the EML! You can join here! Join our community Did you know we work with professionals and leaders with 2 on 1 coaching that marries the expertise of a Doctor of Psychology and mindset coach with the business savvy of a former Fortune 50 sales executive. We specialize in helping entrepreneurs and professionals like you master your time, sales, and confidence, to evolve you to your greatest potential. To learn more about our coaching you can contact us here! Feel like you need coaching but not sure you can afford the investment in yourself? That’s ok! We have a scholarship available to diverse candidates of need. You can apply for our scholarship for our coaching and our courses here. Not enough time in the day, we get it. Check out our AYOP course, 2x Your Time, right here. We walk through everything from time management and calendar basics to how you can supercharge your days weeks and months through practices and techniques that are grounded in experience and proven by science.