Every new year brings new opportunities and new focus. It can be an opportunity for you to make real change. To reflect. To plan and to move forward.
Alternatively you can decide to do what most Business Owners will do in 2012. Stay the same. And to be blunt about it, it’s just dumb. So
1) Don’t make a plan. Why bother. You’ve winged it so far. Planning just consumes time and anyway we all know that business plans just gather dust on shelves. Anyway how can you plan in a world that’s so topsy turvy?
2) Don’t think big. Whatever you do don’t create a vision of a bigger better business. Don’t dream. Dreaming is for the birds. There’s more important things to do like counting the till receipts. Dreamers, I mean what have people like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Denis O’Brien and Brian O’Driscoll every achieved by dreaming big?
3) Blame everything and everyone else for your misfortunes. Blame the economy. Blame the Euro. Blame your sales team. Blame your staff. Blame the taxman. It’s never your fault. It’s much easier to blame others that take responsibility.
4) Don’t measure your key numbers. Measuring key business numbers is a waste of time. You can’t control the numbers in a downturn. People aren’t spending. Nobody’s buying. Why remind yourself of your poor performance by focusing with a razor like mentality on numbers.
5) Don’t change. For God sake don’t rethink. Re assess. Reevaluate everything you do. Your strategy. Your people. Your clients. Your products. Your skills. Your competencies. Stay the same. It makes it easier to blame the world.
6) Don’t ignore the media and the news. We all love our bad news and there’s so much out there to take in. We love it. We revel in it. And we allow our mindset to be blunted by it. But why change? Why switch channel and listen to some motivational books. Why not read only in areas where there are opportunities. Why not consciously decide to focus on the positive. No. It’s just too much hassle. It’s easier to fit it and be miserable in unison.
7) Don’t look for opportunities. Focus on the problems. If you’re spending 80% of your time or more just dealing with problems. It must be necessary. No? Why change and flip that percentage, where you consciously try to spend 80% of your time focused on new solutions? Once again it’s easier to stay constant. And bemoan the lack of time available to get anything done.
Don’t set goals. Let’s not be ridiculous here. We all know that if we set ourselves goals, we are just giving ourselves the rope to hang ourselves on. No, no goals for you or your team. We don’t want people failing any more do we?
9) Procrastinate; Don’t hold yourself accountable to your priorities. Whatever you do, don’t move forward until everything is perfectly aligned for success. Perfect everything before moving forward. Put all of the major priorities on hold, while you focus exclusively on the minor issues. When they’re done you can then get the big stuff done. Don’t change that habit.
10) Don’t learn more. Who has the time to attend courses. Read books. Listen to audio programmes. Watch video programmes. Read industry reports. Attend industry gatherings. Assess new trends. Wait until next year. You may have the time then. When the economy picks up.
So there you have it. Just 10 really Dumb Business and Personal Strategies for 2012. There are many more, but you’ll know these too.
Of course there is the alternative….
Best of luck.
Ronan
Ronan Kilroy Certified FocalPoint Business Coach
Profitability, Productivity, Possibility.
