What's Stopping You From Success? | Dynamic Marketing San Diego 2017

Success is a general term that means different things depending on who you’re talking to. There are also many variables that go into achieving success and even defining it. For the sake of this blog post I’ll try to hone in on the kind of success I’m talking about. 

I’m taking about making money, yes. After all, that’s mostly the point of what I do. I help San Diego business owners by solving a myriad of their marketing challenges, advertising snafoo’s and operational roadblocks. Because by doing so, they inherently achieve their goal of making more money. That’s the “bottom line,” ya’ll. 

But I don't want to leave out the immaterial form of success. The kind of success that has you feeling good or even purposeful about what you’re doing [at least on most days, let’s be real]. I set out to achieve this form of success every.single.day. It’s my most coveted trophy in the fun dance that is business and is life.

I believe that feeling successful will bring you monetary success. The money always comes. If you feel good about what you’re doing, if you believe in what you’re doing, financial success will usually follow.

I believe what truly keeps people from achieving success is simply themselves. We create and propel challenges that end up becoming roadblocks to our own goals. And it's impossible to feel successful when you're carried away with your problems. 

Through my own personal experiences, I’ve identified two areas that are common “success squashers”, if you will. Resistance and reactiveness prevent people from being the best versions of themselves. I can tell you from years of experience consulting them, successful business owners and entrepreneurs excel at managing these areas.

Key to Success Numero Uno: Stop Resisting

This is #1 because I believe it’s the biggest success deterrent for most people - professionally and personally. Resistance has held me back from multiple opportunities. It’s negatively altered my perspective of situations and inhibited me from seeing things clearly and neutrally. 

Can we all agree that problems in life are unavoidable? I’d like to think so. Challenges/change/roadblocks will always, always, always present themselves. Issues big and small, much like death and taxes, are unavoidable. Resistance to them causes a ripple effect of negative outcomes.

An experience is 10% reality and 90% how we react to it. It’s about our attitudes. As cliche as that may sound, I have found few higher truths that can top it. Resisting to a challenge is a form of reactiveness that is as common as it is damaging.

In business and in life, shit happens. Over the next week or so, make a mental note to hit the pause button when a challenge or change comes your way. You may catch yourself trying to resist the problem or the change. Rather than resist, switch gears and accept what’s in front of you. You’ll notice the solutions will come to you with ease. 

Key to Success Numero Dos: Observe vs React

Observation is hard for people because most of us never shut up or slow down. Excuse me for being blunt.

We’re human. And most of us have the habit of reacting every time something happens to us. Positive or negative, it’s like we’re conditioned to produce a response to every little thing, wasting valuable time and energy.

Practicing observation during a challenge or a change will serve you in many areas:

+observation helps you determine if the issue is in fact a real issue that deserves your attention

+observation reduces stress when solving complex, or not-so-complex, problems

+observation helps you save face when dealing with a challenge (vs. freaking out and embarrassing yourself - which is easy to do)

Something shitty can happen, big or small, and how you react to said situation can speak volumes about the state you’re in. Say you react poorly to a negative situation. Ask yourself what the underlying issue might be. What triggered that reaction? Were you just hangry/tired? Or is there an underlying fear or concern? Then ask yourself if those fears or concerns are even realistic. Most of the time, they’re not. 

In the business world, observation has changed my life. I’ve had large clients drastically scale back budgets, entire accounts cancel without any notice, commission structures painfully revised…problems that cause financial stress/fear. I’ve had a former partner stab me in the back as well as trusted colleagues let me down. I’ve made mistakes of my own that have caused me to be reactive. These things HAPPEN. And these are just business challenges! 

Through observation, you can efficiently handle any negative issue that comes your way. You can reduce your own stress by pausing your reactions, stepping away from the issue, and observing it from a neutral perspective. When you're running a business, you just don't have the time to react to everything. Observe. 

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Yes, achieving success is a combination of several factors. But I believe at the root of it exists these personal practices. By holding yourself responsible, by practicing non-resistance and observation, you will run your operations more efficiently. When operations are running efficiently you will feel energized, motivated, and positive - for which monetary success will be a natural byproduct. 

Please let me know what you enjoyed most about this post in the comments below! And if you’d like to make my day, please share this with anyone you know who might enjoy it. 

Thank you for your support,

Michaela