As I mentioned the last post, we are in the middle of some cold weather. I was taking a shower this morning and the sun was shining through the window, warming up the room. The steam from the shower fogged up the mirror (which was in the shade) before it fogged up the window. This got me to thinking…
Have you ever seen someone in a bad relationship or pursuing destructive behaviour and thought to yourself, the answer is obvious on what needs to happen next. Same thing when looking at someone else's business issues, the answers are fairly clear to you. In these situations, the person living through the situation is either: blind to the problem, blind to the answer or is afraid to take the required action.
Believe it or not, sometimes that person is you.
I know I find it much harder to look at myself or business objectively than I do at others'. The window is clear, but the mirror is foggy.
Honest self-reflection is harder. You may know what you want to be, you may know what you should be, but knowing what you currently are is clouded by your reality and the voices you hear. Are the voices of your conscious mind positive or negative?
Sometimes a little dishonesty is ok. If you think you are capable of doing something beyond your current experience, the confidence will help you stretch and achieve.
But if your real skills are totally out of alignment with what is required, and you are oblivious to that; you may be in for some serious failure. Just look at some of the people seeking to get on the singing and dancing talent reality shows; some of them honestly don't know they don't have talent.
The trick isn't to find your weaknesses and fix them. It is to find your strengths and find others to cover off your weaknesses (i.e. stop doing the things you are weak at) for maximum, consistent high performance and success. The same thing applies to your business.
The tricky part comes if you have a lot of strengths personally or as a business. There are just so many things you could do. Of course the trick is to focus and pick something; anything.
Still, it is much easier to help others do this for themselves than to do it for yourself. If honest self-reflection is a weakness you have and it is holding you back, find someone to help you out.
But therein lays the quandary, if your weakness is honest self-reflection, will you admit to yourself that you need help?
For me, I perceive this skill to be essential to my success as an entrepreneur and personally. So honest self-reflection it is, even if the mirror is a little foggy at times. Things get better with practice.
