I am jumping back into confidence with a secret that may really be a secret. This is not a tip that I see others address when talking about confidence. This is probably MY confidence Achilles heel and I have the confidence equivalent of the strength of Hercules.

This is one of those little habits that creeps up you. You are minding your own business, having a great life and business when suddenly the rug is pulled out from underneath you. You lose a few clients, you get sick, you feel as if your world is falling apart around you. I call it…

SuperQuad Syndrome! (You may call it Superwoman or Superman Syndrome; I have four wheels, so it is SuperQuad for me.) This is where SuperQuad Syndrome started for me. I accepted the reality of the consequences of my automobile accident very quickly after it happened. That afternoon my husband brought my 7-year-old son into my room and I told him I would never walk again. He is obviously my son because he said, “That is okay. We will build you a ramp.”

My paralysis was never a big deal for me… how it affected my children was. I decided while I was in the rehabilitation hospital that my children would never have the chance to say they missed out on any childhood experiences because their mom was paralyzed. I became SuperQuad! Days off from school always included movies, arcades and parks. My children were in city sports and played instruments. They very likely had more childhood than they wanted.

Now that I own my own business I see SuperQuad creeping back in. I take on too many projects at once and then feel so rushed when I am doing them, I second (and third) guess my work. Talk about a confidence buster! I tried to expand my business this year before I had a good infrastructure in place and it cost me two clients. Now I am stepping back and cementing that infrastructure, so I can grow my business next year without working 20-hour days.

There is a one-word cure for SuperQuad Syndrome… simplify. Take a good, hard look at your life. Are you doing too much? Do you really need to spend three days preparing and obsessing over the “perfect” holiday meal when everyone will be just as happy eating at one of the many restaurants that are now open on holidays? You can use that prep time for board games, conversation or other family activities. Does your daughter need to be in ballet, voice lessons, basketball, gymnastics, club soccer, swimming AND piano? She probably would rather play with her friends than do one or two of those activities and you need some time for you.

Take a good, hard look at your business. Are you doing too much? Do you have the help you need in your business? I know in the beginning you have more time than money, so you have the tendency to do every task yourself, however at some point you must start outsourcing or you will burn out. Look at your financials often and objectively. Do you have products or services that are not really money makers for you and are taking resources from the ones that are? Focus on your core profit products and discontinue the others.

It is hard to be confident when you have too much on your plate so do a quarterly audit of your life and business and clear the clutter.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

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An idea is a burst of inspiration. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and everybody has a million of them. Creativity is the ability to turn an idea into something real and tangible. If you find yourself stuck in an idea rut and have not actually found a way to turn your ideas into reality, you are not too creative… you lack focus. How do you fix this?

Get Off the Idea Treadmill Some people mistake the ability to generate ideas with creativity. However, to be creative you must be able to do two things; think and produce. Without the production part, you are not being creative – you are dreaming. To move from dreamer to creator you need to act.

Focus Your Objectives If you are having a hard time getting to the action part, try refocusing your objectives. Write down what your goals are for even trying to come up with a project. Make a list of the ideas you have come up with thus far and see how they align with your objectives.

Get Feedback Ask other people to give you feedback about some of your ideas by sharing them along with your objectives for the idea. If you ask your clients and customers what they think, or colleagues what they think, it will help you narrow down your ideas.

Pick One Idea and Finish It Pick one idea and work to do what you need to complete it. Without completing an idea, you have not really participated in the creative process. You need to think and produce to truly be involved in creation.

Develop Actionable Goals Now that you have chosen an idea, it is time to develop your goals into actionable steps. A goal is not complete until you know exactly what steps you need to take to realize it.

Set Time Limits and Deadlines Once you have the steps necessary to develop your idea into a true creation, you need to give each step a deadline. A great way to do that is to determine when you would like to launch your new creation - the day you want it finished and ready for the world. Then work your way backward through the steps until you arrive at today, your beginning.

Identify Resources Once you know what you are going to create and what steps you need to take to get there, figure out what resources you have and what resources you lack. Identify ways to fill the gaps. Maybe you need to learn something new, or perhaps you need to outsource a few of the actionable steps to reach your goals.

Stay the Course The final step toward being creative is to not give up. You may have setbacks and your time line might even be off a bit, but you need to do what it takes and complete all the steps so that you can experience the final results of your creation: a finished project. Only when you have something that other people can see, hear, smell, taste or touch are you done.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

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