I just heard this from a client who was at our Retail Profit Revolution. She said “You promised I’d come home with tons of ideas to make my store life more profitable and fun. And I did. But there is so much to do and I stepped back into all these messes back at the store.”
To be honest, I was feeling the same way. It seemed as if everywhere I turned there was a bit of a fire going on. And I broke my toe at the Revolution and our dog got really sick and work miscommunications happened and I jammed my finger and the oven stopped working and….
Know what I mean?
Ever feel like that?
I had my weekly call with my friend and colleague, Karen Luniw – the mindset genius. (She is on the faculty of the Profit Breakthrough System.) Right away, she knew something was up.
“So glad we had this call scheduled because I want to invite you to my pity party.” I said.
Karen laughed and replied, “Oh I love a party – but I’m turning down this invitation down! What’s going on?”
So I started to tell her my tale of ‘woe is me’.
“STOP,” she said. “Let’s turn this party around. You have the wrong perspective. You are feeling like you are on the bottom of this pile and all of this …um… what shall I call it?…hmmm…dog poop is just piled on top of you.”
“Exactly,” I shouted. I was happy to be understood.
“But that isn’t the situation. There are just all these obstacles in front of you. They aren’t piled up. They are separate and discrete situations. You are strong enough to handle them one at a time. But you certainly can’t handle them all piled up. Change your perspective of them.
First and most importantly – you are using emotional business management (EBM) right now. I know you don’t allow that. Emotion is not smart enough to manage your business! You are tired and allowed that to take over for a moment. Stop. Take a breath. A deep one. Now intentionally take out all emotion from the situation. Don’t make any decisions until you can.
Now you are ready for step 2. See each obstacle separately. See each one just exactly as it is. Then you can see the order that they need to be handled in. You can totally do this.”
Oh.
Ok.
She was right.
All together and on top of each other they looked like a mountain that I could never get over. And it all look so complicated and intertwined. That was completely overwhelming.
I took a breath and took out the emotion of it all. I saw them laid out next to each other and looking at one at a time I saw that they could be handled.
So no pity party – but we agreed to do a wine tasting next! That is really much more fun anyway!
The moral of the story is threefold:
- Reach out to a wise friend. It is fine to vent sometimes but you have to reach out to someone who wants you to grow. You must have wise support. You’ll find that they often tell you what you already know!
- Take out the emotion. Check yourself. Are you tired or overwrought? That is when it’s easy to let emotions take over. But your emotions aren’t as smart as you are! Take break. You are the one to manage your business. NO EBM! Don’t allow any emotional business management!
- See obstacles laid out in front of you – not on top of you! And just take one at a time.
- You can do it. – Obstacles are merely stepping stones. You can walk right on top of them to get to your dream.
And if you ever want additional help from my wise friend, she is on the faculty of the Retail Profit Breakthrough System. She also can be reached at karen@attractmorenow.com or call 250 882-3885.
