Rely On Yourself

Over the year's I've asked several small business owners, "Why do you do what you do?"  Most often, their response is that they like helping people.  While this is a noble cause, your TRUE WHY is most likely something much deeper, but more importantly, it's a tell tale sign of an issue that so many small business owners face.  We're often people pleasers.  We hate saying "No" to anyone for anything!  So, we drop everything that we're doing just to help someone out.  Ironically, we often WON'T do the same for ourselves.

While we are often crazy reliable for other people and their needs, so many of us won't show up for ourselves when it really matters most.  Even though we have big goals, we're bending over backwards for others and sacrificing our own dreams in the process.  Additionally, we pack in so many activities serving others that we often don't have the physical or mental energy left to work on the activities that are most important to us.  So, this begs the question, how do we break this cycle of showing up for others, but not ourselves?

First, we each need to get wildly in touch with our priorities.  What's your wildly important goal this week?  What are the needle moving activities that are going to move you one step closer to that goal?  Next, you need to place those activities on your calendar and stick to them!  No matter what else is requested of you, these are most important.  I'm not saying to completely ignore others, but for many of us, it's time that we fill our own cups before we serve others.  That means establishing some external boundaries, so that you can focus on what's truly important to you.

So, give it a shot this next week.  Set your priorities, establish some boundaries and hold yourself to the same standard you would if that request was coming from someone else.  For most of us, it's time to ask yourself, "Can I rely on myself?"