If you commit to making small changes to your business in 2016, you can get big results without working your fingers to the bone. Take 3 mins out to find out how!

Most entrepreneurs never switch off. So, if you start thinking about work over the Christmas break, don’t let it stress you. Get your mind in order, think positive and ask yourself, honestly: how could I make things better?

Some people might say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness – but I reckon it’s the first sign of someone really getting their sh1t together!

Step 1: Find the right moment

Find a nice quiet moment, whether it’s at your office, home or in some secluded snow-sprinkled woods. You need to give yourself the mental breathing space to think. We’re looking for a moment of clarity here. If your kids are stomping and screaming or your staff are pestering you with daft questions, you’re not going to get any useful global thinking done. The ‘secret’ is to ‘Stop, Stand Back…and ask yourself How can I Make It Better?’ That sort of talking to yourself is powerful and when you give yourself the ‘space’ (because mentally you ‘stand back’) then you come up woth answers, solutions and renewed energy.

Step 2: A little risk is good

Accept that making changes for the better may involve a little risk – whether that means not doing everything yourself, or taking a considered punt on a new process, market or campaign – things could potentially get a little worse before they get better.

However, don’t let that put you off. Like JFK said:

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

Remember I have always said “Comfort kills”…because when you are comfortable you generally stagnate and the next step is a slow death! You only feel genuinely alive when you are buzzing and excited…and that comes from new energy new ideas new thoughts and plans…and these come from stopping and asking better questions!

 Step 3: Get in an honest frame of mind

Think about how you spend your days, weeks or years. How do you feel with regards to your to-do list and associated time pressures? Do you feel constantly pulled in all directions? Do you live in state of restrained infuriation, small things winding you up everywhere you look?

Let your brain fill up with all the ways you’re dissatisfied with your daily working life. Pain is always a great motivator…so create a little pain or discomfort and give yourself the power of leverage into action. Kidding yourself that it is alright…verbalising to others it is alright when privately you moan and ‘hate your lot’…well its not helping you!! Get honest, feel the discomfort and let it move you forwards.

Step 4: Ask your brain outright to tell you the answers

Your brain probably spends a lot of time fizzing and crackling, where you can’t think straight and you’re getting distracted every ten seconds. We all have times like that.

When your head is fizzing, try saying out loud: “I’m not worried about anything right now, I just want a moment’s peace.”

It will quiet your mind – and give the bit of peace you crave. Now ask yourself a question, out loud. You might feel silly, but it’s worth a try, right?

Ask yourself: “What I can do to make things better? Give me ideas how I can make things better.”

Be straight and direct and ask your brain to deliver the goods, and it is programmed to help you out! So asking outright for what sort of ideas you want will get them flooding in, and innovative ways to solve your problems should arrive on demand.

Step 5: Write it down. Make it real

The biggest step to achieving your goals is writing them down.

It makes it real. It will goad you into doing something about it. You’ll have something to refer to after Christmas, when you come to do something it.

There you go, you’ve just given yourself the best present you’ll get all year. Not War and Peace or even several pages…sometimes it can be distilled into 2 sentences – “Stop trying to do everything myself and end up taking twice as long and getting really frustrated…instead find an expert, pay and get it done, and give myself free time to create, to sell and to grow” for example!

To keep the process and progress going, build quiet time where you talking to yourself into your regular routine.

Try it! It really works – it could be just the ticket for a more prosperous year.

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If you want to get some advice on a pragmatic, healthy approach to small business leadership, drop me a line at bkench@thebusinessbooster.co.uk

Now read: 5 things will happen when you take a proactive view on business spending 

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