18 Most Valuable Lessons

byWellbeing38

1.3K followers

4 years ago

At the end of June, I did a review of my year so far, and made a list of incredible things, hard things, dumbest mistakes, proudest moments and some of the priceless lessons I learnt. The best thing about being a human is that we are constantly evolving, so let’s take a look at the 18 lessons that were of the greatest value to me:

#1 It’s better to make progress rather than perfection. I have been guilty of this many times, doubting myself, waiting for days/months, that last colour change… it’s better to just do it and commit to keep improving than procrastinating and eventually killing your creativity and motivation.

#2 “You can’t microwave success” – Devon Franklin. It takes a while to grow anything worth growing. Ask any successful person if it was a piece of cake!

#4 Your environment. Your office, people you hang around with, the magazines you read, the events you attend, your associations, directly affects your levels of achievement in business and life.

#5 Get out of your own way!

“The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle,” — Peter Drucker

I struggled with delegation. You can’t and will never be able to do everything by yourself. As your business grows, the toughest decisions involve PEOPLE and their changing roles/priorities. Great leaders are excellent delegators.

#6 Start saying “NO” and begin to focus on less so you can FOCUS more! The reason we all feel so overwhelmed each day because of a huge to-do list staring back at you. With a maximum of 2-3 main priorities on your plate each day, it removes much of the overwhelm, reduce stress and wasted time and help maximise how you spend your day.

#7 The next BIG idea for your business will not come while you are at your desk. Always be looking at what peoples need and requirements are, what are their main ‘pain points’ and how can you bring solutions to these.

#8 The Key to moving forward is to always ‘Control the Controllable’. I have stopped paying attention to Boris Johnson, Trump and negative media!

#9 Your future is always in the FOLLOW-UP. Make sure you have a regular time in your diary for ‘Follow up Monday or Friday”. I set aside Monday mornings to go through all the ideas, the articles, the blogs I want to spend more time on and have saved from the previous week when I was busy on other matters.

#10 If in doubt ask yourself – ‘What would (my role model/my Father/Guru) do if he/she was in your position?’ When you invest in yourself (books, mentoring, attending conferences, education), a world of opportunities will open up for you and will allow you to become the best version of yourself.

#12 What gets measured gets managed …and what gets managed gets done! Scaling your business starts with learning where you’re at to find the gaps. The numbers show you reality…And for most entrepreneurs, reality stings a little bit!

#13 To escape the hamster wheel the only way to create more time for yourself is to build SYSTEMS in your business. “Ahh, I don’t have time to create systems because I have other important things to focus on.” I completely get it. We are busy. But think about all the time it will save you/your team in the future. The extra few hours, which you can then spend with your family and working on more important, profitable tasks.

#14 The one thing that hugely affects your performance, your mood, your energy, your happiness is your HEALTH. Don’t skip meals, take daily exercise, spend time meditating. I love Mindfulness, which clears my mind of all the unnecessary things that are seemingly all the time. As a leader of your business your health matters. And if you take this for granted…good luck!

#15 If you inspire one person each day, your day hasn’t been a waste. It’s been a gift.

#16 Givers versus takers always win. – Robin Sharma

#17 Always be innovating and improving, and if your not you’re on the path to obsolescence.Can you commit for at least 1% improvement in your business (any area sales, marketing, operations) every week?

#18 Finally remember that there is food on our table – so sincere gratitude and always be counting your blessings.

#3 AND if you forget something important its not too late to go back and deal with it. Better late than never, and if you still want to deal with it then it is important.