The 6 Bad Business Habits You Need To Give Up Now
While we may be all too aware of the bad habits we may have on a personal level, are we always as honest with ourselves about our bad business habits?
It’s time to take stock of any bad business habits that we’re clinging to or that we might not even be aware are sabotaging our potential for growth and scalability.
And there is no need to wait for some milestone or new year to get started identifying some problematic behaviours you should change and shift gear out of ASAP.
One of the first is procrastination as it happens, so if that sounds like you telling yourself you’ll wait until the next quarter, the new year, the whatever blocking point you’re using to delay doing this you might need to do this more than you realised!
Bad Business Habits Aren’t Just for Longtime Entrepreneurs
This isn’t just for experienced entrepreneurs by the way. Sure, those of you who have been in the game for some time are likely to have more than your share of bad business habits picked up along the way. But for those budding entrepreneurs just starting out and on shaky ground, finding their business feet like Bambi on ice, it’s important to be cognisant of some key bad habits before they form.
Keep them somewhere you might see them often, and do a regular check to ask yourself if you’ve fallen into these bad business habits. Then shake them loose!
1. Procrastination
Since we already brought it up, let’s get the elephant out of the room. It can happen to all of us. Doing tasks we really, really dislike is often the culprit. But what about those of us who are perfectionists, indecisive, or easily distracted?
When those traits are added into the mix, procrastinating becomes a coping mechanism that only leads to bigger problems and additional stress when you eventually have to get those tasks done. And usually under greater duress.
When you feel like putting off today what you think you can do tomorrow count down
from 5 to 1 and then put one foot in front of the other and take action. Momentum is a powerful thing and sometimes that is all it takes.
2. Failing to Future Plan for Your Business
We’ve said this before in our other blog (check it out here) but it doesn’t matter at what stage you are in our business venture, you have to plan for the future. What are your goals for 10 years from now? 5 years? 1 year? The next 3 months?
If you don’t have answers or they are suitably vague you’re doing your business a real disservice. You can’t act or plan for a future that you haven’t envisioned. And when you have no vision, it’s tough to understand what you need to do and how to drive yourself to reach and achieve that vision.
Every business owner should spend 10% of their time proactively forward planning and thinking about where they see their business heading. What big picture are you aiming for?
3. Focussing On Too Much, or Focussing On Just One Thing
This may sound contradictory but either extreme when it comes to your business focus is a bad business habit that needs to stop.
If you spread yourself too thin taking on all of the roles in the company it can become difficult to prioritise and often progress is less effective and efficient than it could be. Basically, trying to do it all yourself means that some things will suffer quality-wise.
Zeroing in on the most important aspects that deserve your attention and delegating other areas to others will allow you to make your best efforts for those key components of running your business.
When you are on the opposite end of the spectrum and have tunnel-vision for one aspect of your business or one goal and that goal only it’s possible to be a business owner who neglects everything else. Honing in on one thing might be needed occasionally, but if you aren’t actively involved in other areas of your business it’s likely that they will fall by the wayside and become subpar pretty quickly.
4. Failing to Set Up Processes or Have Structure
Even if you are a business in its infancy and there are only a handful of people involved, you need to think about the systems and processes that you want in place. They may make less sense when there aren’t that many people at the table, but as you grow you will be thankful you thought about them and have them in place.
The time spent on ensuring you have structure, regular meetings, and accountability in place will enable you to scale up much easier than a business that finds itself growing out of control and then trying to rein it all in.
5. Micromanaging and Failing to Delegate
These two also often go hand in hand. If you can’t delegate and trust that your colleagues will be able to learn and grow with your business in ways that you very much had to in the beginning, you will end up burned out and possibly resentful of your business. Apple may have started in a garage with two computer nerds at the helm, but they didn’t get to where they are today by trying to do it all themselves as they progressed.
When you do delegate, resist the urge to micromanage every little detail or you might as well not have delegated in the first place! This is a bad business habit that can be hard to break especially when your business is your baby, but it is crucial to your ability to grow and prosper.
6. Not Having a Healthy Work/Life Balance
If you can’t switch off or are at the mercy of your work phone and emails 24//7 chances are your personal life is suffering. Whether it’s your partner, family, friends, or even pets most would agree that trying to maintain a healthy relationship with a workaholic isn’t easy. And sometimes it’s just no fun, all of the time.
Mental health has been at the forefront in recent years with good reason. Now more than ever it’s important to be able to separate your work life from your ‘me-time’ and engage with those relationships that mean the most to you, including the one you have with yourself.
Are you doing the things you love during your downtime? Or are you so exhausted you can’t summon the energy? It’s not only mentally debilitating to never regularly take a break from work but the stress and physical toll it takes can shorten lives. And what is the point of all that work if you can’t enjoy the life you want your business to provide?
Time to Make That Break
There are certainly more bad business habits that we could add to this list, but if you can sharpen your awareness on these six it makes a great start to keeping your business in growth mode.
If you aren’t sure how to assess your business habits and are already overwhelmed by the prospect of making effective changes our Tricres Partners are here to help you! Visit our Partner Page and find your perfect SME coach and consultant who can guide you through proven tools and techniques that will get you there.
We’re here to make it happen for every ambitious SME.
