Doing the Work is Your Obligation – More Fun, Focus, Passion, Sales, and Success

My friend Satya Kalra of Path to Anandam says, “Focus on work, not just on the fruits of work”. I didn’t get it originally. Of course I thought it was a logical statement but I didn’t truly import the context of what it meant to me. Doing what I love does not feel like work and everything else just needs to get done – it is work – it is a responsibility – it is time consuming – it is my obligation to my business. Of course I would do the work.

Recently I realized that I would be racing through my obligations unconsciously. “Just get it done. ” “Work Now – Play Later”, I would tell my kids and myself. But what does this mean for my business – or yours if you are like me?

Less Fun – When things have to get done and you are always looking to the future for the next fun thing you are not living in the moment.

• Remember when you where an employee? Just get through Monday and you’ll be fine. ‘Hump Day’ we’re half way there. Can’t wait for Friday to finish work.
• What about being a parent? You can’t wait until they are out of diapers. Soon they will be able to make their own lunches. If they could only drive themselves…
• And in business! You hate the admin work because you have to sit in front of your computer for hours. Calling is so stressful.

Less Focus – When the work is not part of your whole day and it feels segregated from the fun, you find yourself more distracted and procrastination seeps in.

• Have you ever found yourself in front of the fridge. You’re not hungry, your just there thinking about things you could be doing.
• Has a Facebook post ever led you to view something else and an hour later you remember you were in the middle of doing something important?

Less Passion – sometimes the work we don’t enjoy as much outweighs the work we love to do. It can feel overwhelming and under appealing. You might have even thought, “Where is the joy in my business when all I do is tedious, time consuming, and frustrating for me.”

Less Sales – Here is a statement I hear way too often, “I don’t have time to grow my business.” I see so many business owners doing so much of the work they hate. if offloaded to someone that loved the work, was an expert, and likely did it faster and better, they would have time to create more in their business. Is this you too?

Less Success – What is success to you? If it is doing a lot of what you hate and not growing then you are there. Likely this is not the case. Having a business with systems that allows you to enjoy more of what you love, feel great about doing what you must, and staying focused more of the time will increase your sales and allow you to create more (like hiring, adding new markets, increasing your reach, etc.)

If more sales are what you are expecting for 2015 then knowing how to do all the work with joy is important. When I worked unconsciously I  missed out on the time I did the work. I gave up part of my daily life to do the ‘work’. It showed through on my interaction with potential clients and my sales numbers. I felt the burden of this stress in most days. Doing all the easy stuff does not grow the business and doing all the hard work is not enjoyable. I found myself asking,” where is the fun I thought I would have running my own business?”

This was not an easy transformation for me. I spent much of 2014 focused on what I was missing so I could make the changes that would see me more successful for 2015. Finding what your missing when it is not a ‘thing’ takes a lot of soul searching and some incredibly attuned experts to with insight and skills I did not have. I could not have done this alone. AND THE RESULTS? … I made more in 5 weeks at the end of 2014 then I would normally make in 3 months and this year is starting off with a bang. I’ve sold three months worth of strategy days in one week, plus I had 3 unsolicited invitations to speak. There was no pushing, no anguish, no fret, and no ‘work’. I just ‘did’ and it happened. In fact ‘work’ is no longer a ‘4-letter word’ with negative connotations, it is simply my obligation to living my life with joy.

Are you up for more joy this year?

More Success for Cindy Ashton