What's Your Emphasis

LinkedIn has a poll that asks which of four qualities is most important in running your business:

• Learning from mistakes
• Embracing change
  
• Taking calculated risks
  
• Focusing on the future
  

One of the things an Organizational Development person does is encourage change where it's necessary. And change is part of the evolution of things. Another term for change is "progress."
Being in business for yourself means you take calculated risks much of the time. Even making the decision to start a business shows the tendency to embrace risk because there are no guarantees of success except for what you put into the effort. Even then, the guarantees of success are not there because many other factors come into play and impact the plans that were initially formulated.

The failure to learn from one's past and from the mistakes that put you where you are today means, like Sisyphus, you are in a constant state of striving to get "there" instead of moving forward. The lessons aren't being learned. Your business is doomed before the birth is complete.

Thus, the major watchword is "focus" and staying focused. The objective is to achieve the goal while stamping out the distractions. Staying focused also means recognizing the trivia that can become a distraction and does nothing for aiding in projecting your plans and goals compared with the distractions that are major issues that merit attention and dispatch in resolution. So in many instances, the most important quality is focusing on the future. Another way of saying this is to say focus on achieving the goal.

One of the ways to put order into ones business endeavors and plateaus is to know how to prioritize as well as how to balance the various aspects of the business. And the next important issue in creating balance is to know how to create a healthy work/life balance so that running your business isn't a matter of running to your grave.

Resources:

• How to Learn From Your Mistakes
  
• A Strategy for Learning From Mistakes
  
• Learning From Mistakes
  
• Small Business Planning: Developing a Business Plan
  
• Developing a Marketing Plan
  
• Keys to Prudence: Setting Priorities, Goals and Objectives
  
• How to Set Goals
  
• Setting Objectives & Planning: A Key Managerial Task
  
• 7 Ways to Improve Your Work-Life Balance
  
• Forecasting for Growth
  
• Using Technology to Stay Competitive
  

Sponsored Link:
Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction