I think you're exactly right about the ownership thing. I own my business, technically, but I've been looking for someone to tell me what to do ever since I started it. That's not a recipe for success.This I like a lot and think it is worthy of emphasising more as we are all prone to second guessing ourselves and changing the plan. In the early stages that adds up to shiny object syndrome where we start to build a business, then months, weeks, sometime just days later decide to pivot to something more shiny. But later down the road if you don't create concrete decisions you can end up with confusion and frustration and a business that stagnates.
When you have important or 'fork in the road decisions' to make you should take your time, look at all the pros and cons. Maybe speak to mentors, bounce ideas off trusted friends and colleagues. Do all the due diligence required. Then you make that decision. Draw a line in the sand and own it. And when I say own it I mean make it part of you, your mission. Your master plan. Print that decision out and stick it where it can't be ignored. Make it a background for your phone or computer, or a screensaver if you like. It has to be set in stone.
If you do that then the second guessing, doing things half halfheartedly, putting off and dithering about become obsolete because you know you have spent a lot of time and effort coming to that decision so any knee jerk reaction to change the plan is coming out of discomfort or fear, NOT logic.
Take @Jon L moment of clarity that cold calls is his way forward. The 20 percent input that will increase his business output by 80 percent. Once he owns that decision (really owns it) he will make it part of his plan. It then gets inked in bold with a Sharpie:
"10am to 11am Monday to Friday I make cold calls".
"2pm to 3pm every Friday I create the cold call list for the following week".
Then there is no augment. You made a decision that you know deep down was the correct one. You just have to trust in the process and follow through. You are more easily able to ignore your amygdala. That voice causing:
Because that voice don't matter. The decision has been made. You own it. Suck it up and get on with it as there are now no excuses. Then watch your business grow, and, as it does, as you realise the decision you owned was validated> Then those feelings of insecurity and fear will subside. You have levelled up. Time to own the next big decision.
My mindset was oriented that way because of various issues in my head: self-doubt, negativity, etc.
Recently, though, I've experienced a dramatic shift in mindset, which has allowed me to ask questions here the way I've been doing, which generates the feedback I've been getting (like yours here about ownership), which has made me realize, 'yeah, I really do have this,' which will result in a dramatic increase in business over the next few months. (I know this because its already happening.)
So yes, it is about truly owning your decisions, and then doing the things those decisions entail.
BUT ... getting to a spot where you can own your decisions isn't easy. Its definitely one of the steps on the 'steps to greatness' we're talking about here.
Edit:
For those of you who have owned your decisions for so long that this is difficult to relate to, imagine if your base belief about yourself is, 'I don't have what it takes. I'm always going to do something wrong that will screw things up. Therefore, I need someone to tell me what to do.'
With that kind of mindset, you can hear people say 'Own your decisions,' and while you know what the words mean, you don't believe you could ever do things the way successful business people do them.
(that last phrase is important because its one of the things I used to think about myself...the reality is that I will never do things the way other successful business people do them. If I'm to be successful, I'll only be able to do things the way I do them, perhaps learning some things from other people, but it has to be integrated into who I am as a person.)
Self-doubt is insidious, and it takes a lot of work to overcome.
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