Focus on Success

Back when we were young we had this idea of what we wanted in life.  We called it the American Dream consisting of the companionship of a spouse, kids, house, cars, career, and a few other specific ideas.  Fresh out of school and ready to start life, we would greet every opportunity with eager zeal because we had nothing to lose.  We got a job, started dating, and went out spending money freely on things.  The progression seemed natural and it was very successful.  Life was exciting, good, and fun.  We eventually got married, had kids, career, house, and cars and we settled in comfortably.  We come home at night and relax as we enjoy our success.  We can now ease back on the throttle and simply maintain what we have worked so hard to accomplish, besides there are others in our lives that depend on us.     

As an entrepreneur we start out with an idea that gets us excited.  We focus on the concept and start implementing ways to make it grow into something grand.   We talk to our closest friends and discuss possible avenues.  We work diligently toward getting it off the ground putting in long hours.   Eventually the hard work begins to pay off and we have a business.  We even make it grow and hire employees.  The business that started out as an idea has now evolved into a smooth running machine.  We realize the responsibilities of running this business: the employees, the customers, the vendors, and even ourselves.    We are now accomplished executives running a successful business.  In doing so, we turn our attention to macro news events and study the current state of the economy and how it affects our particular industry.  The responsibilities are numerous and demanding, but that is acceptable because this is our invention and we are in control.  Gradually our focus becomes one of retention rather than growth without ever knowing it happened. 

Due to the increasing number of responsibilities in our lives, it is only natural for us to migrate our focus and mentality away from growth, expansion, and forward progression to something much more conservative.  We recognize the importance of our responsibilities and do not wish to jeopardize losing what we have worked so hard to accomplish.  The worst part is that this conservative mentality has an element of fear.  This fear can completely reshape how we focus our energy in our daily lives.   As the responsibilities grow and the fear consumes, the ability to grow is inhibited to a point that our goal is completely not to lose anything: not to lose money. 

As our business begins to cycle down we blame external forces of the macro economy while never recognizing that the business model is a cyclical machine that needs constant growth.  We attempt to hunker down and cut expenses, attempt to retain as many employees as possible, and maintain a certain level of income while always vigilant of that bottom line.  If we are unsuccessful at maintaining, we start to make sacrifices to cut expenses, certain luxuries disappear, some divisions of the business get dissolved, some employees get laid off, and worst of all, there is no opportunity to grow.  We are overwhelmed with trying to survive.

There is a natural glass ceiling that eventually slows and stops us from continued advancement.  The level in each of our lives when this happens varies.  Certainly some have much higher thresholds based on mentality, responsibilities, and security.  Ultimately, we all hit our plateau of success in life.  Each step for advancement seems more and more difficult.  We place too much emphasis on the risk of what we can lose.  We even start to blame ourselves as being lazy and unaccomplished.  We could hope that there was some sort of safety net that could guarantee that we don’t lose it all, but there isn’t.  Fear has overcome us and growth has been starved out of the picture.  By nature, our successful business and lives are consumptive and diminishing.  It takes a certain level of income simply to buy food, gas, and necessities.  We focus on that level.  Additionally, we live in a competitive world where everyone else is attempting to succeed; this includes taking from us.  We become defensive and restricted.  We have unknowingly evolved into something we did not expect.

Now, is our focus not to lose money?  Are we only here to maintain and manage what we have accomplished?  Can we possibly manage ourselves into success?  No.  If we have found that comfortable level and given up on any growth, then daily life becomes a fight not to lose what we have worked so hard to accomplish.  We get trapped in the details of daily life.  Even though we created this successful business and life, we do not have to get wrapped up in the micro aspects of management.  It is possible to have a successful team in our business that knows how to maintain.  For others, that may be their level of growth while simultaneously allowing us the freedom to go out and grow ourselves. 

If we were to teach someone else how to be successful in what we do, what would we say to them?  What were the fundamentals that we used to create so much success?  Get back to basics and start growing.  We did it and can do it again even better!  It is time to turn our focus around.  We can and must consciously refocus our energy to our American Dream.  Grasp a hold of that inspiration, motivation, and drive toward success!  Refocus our energy!