In War Or In Peace, Push Yourself To Do One More

Regardless if you are a peacetime or wartime CEO, you strive to see results. Your focus is usually around- x amount of revenue, a new product launch, additional services, budget, or capital. While I recommend you spend the majority of your time on these things, I challenge you to think slightly more tactical. Ground yourself to focus on the big picture and identify the incremental steps needed to make it happen.

This really hit me while attending my normal CrossFit class. This particular day we were asked to do handstand push-ups (HSPU). There were 6 HSPUs each round along with a few other movements like sit-ups and jumping rope. It was a timed workout, and each participant was pushed to see how many rounds we could do in the time given. Knowing my personal best was 12 HSPU, I was not particularly excited. I kept thinking, I will hit my 12th one and my arms will give out, leaving me with completing only 2 measly little rounds. So I could take one of two roads, adjust my workout (scale it) so I could get more rounds completed OR I could focus on the power of one.

Right before our coach started the workout of the day, I looked him dead in the eye and said, my goal is to do 13 HSPUs. I knew that only meant 2 tiny rounds of my workout and most others would accomplish more than me. But I challenged myself to look at the big picture. Was being #1 my goal for the year? Nope. My goal is to keep pace with the strongest women in the gym. Keeping that goal in mind, it made me quickly identify If I pushed through my mental block and achieved 13 HSPUs, I was one day closer to achieving that objective. So I set my sights that day on pushing through my mental block.

Fast forward to the end of the workout, I not only hit my goal of just one more, but I ended up doing 16 of those bad little torture monsters. And you know what I did? I celebrated that win. No, it wasn’t my year-end goal of hitting more personal records than I did the year before, or medaling in a CrossFit competition or being able to keep pace with the strongest women in my gym. But I celebrated the small adjustment that enabled me to get closer to my big win.

So if you truly want your business to thrive, I strongly recommend you take a look at the difference between where you are and where you want to be by the end of the year. Keep whatever is working well, then spend a lot of time on the areas of your business where you are stuck. The areas where you may only be able to do 12 today. Give yourself a scorecard and push yourself each week to show incremental change and celebrate when you achieve those tiny wins. Each tiny adjustment will get you closer to being a critical component for the positive movement of change.

If you would like to learn more about the power of one, or how to create your own company scorecard, find a 30-minute block of time for us to learn more about your aspirations and how SGS can help!

www.calendly.com/mandakoss.