Photo copyright 2011 Sophia King
I have just returned from two weeks off, which included a holiday in Cornwall to celebrate my son’s wedding. We did have a wonderful time, but just as in Shakespeare’s ‘All’s well that ends well’, we also experienced a big dose of drama, together with lots of love and magic.
A series of stressful events that so easily could have turned the wedding into a disaster, really got me thinking about how, by being really positive, focused and determined, it is possible to ‘move mountains’.
In business though, I often see people not finding it easy to achieve that. Even with the desire to succeed in a venture, somehow something is holding them back.
I believe it is paramount to have a strong driver whatever you do. Mine was my desire to see my son and his bride really happy on the day. Just focusing on that made it easy to do whatever I needed to do to turn things round. If I had had to jump in the car to head down to Cornwall in the middle of the night, well I would have done that too.
Mario Andretti, a racing car driver, said “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
So, desire needs to have an important companion: determination, which I often see as the power or the fuel that keeps things running. If you have no fuel then desire alone will not move you forwards.
Determination is a quality often attributed to successful people. Determined people are those who seem unstoppable, who aim – without hesitation – for their goal.
I do come across people who are that determined, who have dreams and the desire to succeed, coupled with a ‘can do’ attitude. Giving up isn’t an option for them!
Without desire and determination, running a business can become like wading through treacle, with progress often painstakingly slow – it can be quite easy to give up!
And when we do, maybe it’s because we have let doubt creep in, or we listened to others with their objections. Or we think success comes to others, not to us, or that we have to be lucky and in the right place to achieve it. Or we lack certain skills which makes us hesitate and question whether it’s really worth putting ourselves out. Why do we do that to ourselves?
Photo copyright 2011 Sophia King
With determination and a ‘can-do’ attitude, the belief that you can succeed and that you deserve to, just as every other business woman does, your approach to business will change and you will act just like the Nike ‘just do it’ slogan suggests.
And sometimes, surprisingly, determination can also come from ‘just doing it’! By getting the ball rolling, you will gradually do more and more and propel yourself forwards to achieve your goal!
In summary, here is what helped me move mountains last week (these steps help me in my business too!):
1. Focus on your goal. (For me this was seeing my son and his bride happy despite all the negative build up).
2. Believe success is possible. (I just blocked out any doubts!)
3. Identify what needs doing.
4. Identify where you need help, and get it, as you can’t always do everything on your own.
5. Just go for it, and be determined. Once you’ve thought things through, all that’s left is to ‘do it’. But if you are having problems with the above, …..‘Just do it’ anyway!
Let me ask you “how determined are you to reach success in your current venture?” Honestly? On a scale of 10 out of 10, with 10 being 100% determined?
Finally, if you are determined to succeed but would like a helping hand, look out for my brand new Complete Success Package, which I am about to launch!
Ute Wieczorek-King is an experienced trainer, mentor and business coach who specialises in helping busy women to be more focused, efficient, visible and profitable in business.
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Copyright 2011, Ute Wieczorek-King
