You can push, shove, flog yourself into success. It's been done before. Or you can be kinder and gentler with yourself and allow yourself to be pulled...
You can push, shove, flog yourself into success. It's been done before. Or you can be kinder and gentler with yourself and allow yourself to be pulled. Not only is it more nurturing of you, it's sustainable. It doesn't require you to burn the candle at both ends, going up in a torch of burned out flame. It doesn't require you to do what goes against the grain. It doesn't require you to be inauthentic. All of that eventually snuffs out the flame that called you to start your business in the first place.
Instead, let yourself be pulled by all that you hold dear. They are the defining traits that make you stand out, that distinguish you from every other person out there who offers the same service or product. That's what makes your business special, and just as importantly, successful. I call them Pull Priorities.
Pull priorities define how you are in your business. It's your unique how that creates your success. There can be a hundred or a thousand businesses that offer the same service as yours. You will become known by the unique combination of what you offer and how.
To define your Pull Priorities, start at the most basic level. Define the traits that you would like your business to exhibit. It's useful to think of them as character traits that you would use to describe a person.
For example, if integrity is one of your Pull Priorities, it means that you make business decisions based on that priority. You keep your word. You do what you say you're going to do.
Pull Priorities apply not only to clients and the people working with and for you. It also applies to you. When you tell yourself, I'm going to complete this item on my get-to-do list today, do you do it? When you tell yourself, I'm going to stop work at 5 so I can meet a friend for dinner, do you do it?
Choose Pull Priorities that you are willing to commit to and act upon.
Once you have those traits clear, you can move on to other priorities. What is important to you in your business? For example, is connection important? Connection with your clients? Do you want to nurture that, and make it a priority?
Look at the list of Pull Priorities you have so far. Choose no more than 8 - that's what you can manage on a day-to-day basis. It is the days that add together to make up your business life. Make sustaining your Pull Priorities do-able. Defining your Pull Priorities will help focus you in your business. It will clarify your decision-making.
Commit to and act on your Pull Priorities. That choice will not only draw you forward, it will pull your perfect clients to you, people who resonate with those priorities, and want the experience that you have to offer.
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