Let me encourage you to really take everything you can and appropriate it for your business. Don’t allow your business to be a side line show. Do this by using all your faculties. Using all your faculties is simply a mind-set. Think of an athlete… Their body must be 100% involved from head to toe including their focus and concentration.
In business there is a rhythm and it is important to remember that knowing things about business is helpful, but wrong knowledge at the wrong time is a burden and can cause failure, because we lose sight of what is most important. Don’t lean too hard on your skills and knowledge. Lean on ALL your available faculties!
Let’s draw on another example: relationships. If you spread yourself out too thinly and only give a small amount to every person, but you never spend quality time with certain people, all your relationships will be hanging on a thread. That’s why long term relationships fail, because all the faculties are not there. You can’t do that for everybody and everything, but you can choose who and what is most important to you and succeed in those things. Ask yourself: Am I here 100%?
How does this relate to business? It boils down to knowing your clients inside out. You have to hear what your clients are saying. Their opinion is important. The audience you need to talk to most are your clients. Listen to them! They will tell you what your market is like. Engage fully with them. I know what is happening in the minds of my clients. I don’t have to know what is happening everywhere, but my clients’ minds are at the forefront of mine.
A running athlete engages every faculty, mind and body. His eyes and all his faculties are focused on the finish line in front of him. It is the same with business. Certain things are your indicators. Like the opinions of clients – whether they are complaining or praising. Write these things down, because the question is: are you in it or are you running to the sides again? If you are serious, write it down and take note.
The last thing I will encourage you to do is to learn something new! Don’t stop learning. Study; get your hands on something new and fresh, pick up new skills and remember that this practice will keep you humble. It reminds us that we don’t know everything and that we need the right people around us.
Engaging fully and using all our faculties gives us confidence, because we are on top of our game. Therefore engage in business and engage in life!