Hope is a powerful thing. It gets us through really tough times and helps us to envision a future that is brighter than our current circumstances. At the same time, we must understand that we play a greater role in making that future a reality, than just maintaining hope.
“Fingers crossed” (hope) is not an effective growth plan. These two words are spoken by a leader who knows there is something more ahead, and has difficulty setting plans and staying on track.
- Fingers crossed it all works out
- Fingers crossed everyone gets along
- Fingers crossed we’ll hit our numbers
- Fingers crossed they finally heard me this time
- Fingers crossed I can get a little time-off before I burn out
If this feels like a familiar strategy of yours, then there is an elephant in your boardroom and it’s name is “Passivity.” And it brought it’s best friend “Avoidance.”
Having a positive expectation of the future is a great thing. Please keep that. But in order to bring your desired reality to fruition you cannot choose a passive approach. Taking action requires three familiar elements: Goals, Plans, and Tenacity.
“Fingers crossed” creates a lot of insecurity about your future – there’s a lot of guessing. That choice is available to you, but is also an uncomfortable place to exist. On the other hand, setting goals and having a plan for getting there is much more comfortable and such a relief… Oofta!
The third element is sustaining tenacity along the ride to your destination. That is not always easy, and is where the avoidance elephant enters the room. Sometimes it is seemingly more painless to let a few things slide when you are exhausted and frustrated by whatever came through your whirl-wind that week. And maybe it is… for a moment. But avoidant behavior is such a crux and easily becomes a habit.
“I’ll do that thing tomorrow” is easy to repeat. Six months from now, one year, five years… those dates will come whether or not you make any movement forward. You can stay in discomfort and passivity. You can choose avoidance. But using the time you have in front of you in the most effective way is what’s going to get you “there” faster and easier.
You are absolutely capable of growing your business and developing a high-performing team who will help you get “there.” Determine your goals, make the plan, and bust a move.
