Why do we business owners torture ourselves? Because we often measure our current results against perfection (our ideal goals). With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment. More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated. Are we crazy? YES! We seldom take time to enjoy the journey and gauge our incredible progress. We tend to only look ahead and not behind to see our progress. I am guilty of this.
Case in point. The Growth Coach, a North American business coaching franchise system, recently celebrated our 6th anniversary. For me, that day pretty much came and went. Sadly, I did not take the proper time to slow down, reflect, review our incredible progress, and truly celebrate our successful journey to date. I recognized and thanked our franchise owners (business coaches) for all their contributions but I did not truly celebrate the occasion. Instead, in my head, I was already focusing on what needed to be done to take our business coaching franchise system to the next level. I was only looking ahead and not behind.
This business coach needed some tough-love business coaching. And I got it! It recently came from the terrific professionals at Fishman PR Firm. They challenged me to enjoy some of The Growth Coach progress to date. To "take a break and celebrate" our many accomplishments, milestones, and successes. To even review our third-party awards and accolades. They coached me to look behind and take in our massive progress over the last 6 years. It felt weird!
They reminded me that The Growth Coach has certified business coaches located in over 150 markets throughout North America. That we coach several thousand small business owners each and every year. And that we continue to attract top-caliber professionals to our franchise community who are seeking greater success, significance and fulfillment in their lives by becoming business coaches and entrepreneurs. To knock further sense into me, they reminded me that Entrepreneur Magazine has ranked us in their "Top 500 Franchise Systems" each of the last 4 years and for 2009, they recognized us in their "Top 101 Home-based Franchises" and "Top 100 Low-Cost Franchises".
Truth be told, I felt uncomfortable reflecting on and hearing about this progress. In my crazy Irish head, I kept saying BUT, BUT, BUT....but compared to where I think Growth Coach COULD HAVE BEEN, we came up somewhat short. You see, like YOU, I set incredibly high goals...more often than not, TOO HIGH of goals.
Why could I not simply acknowledge and enjoy the tremendous progress? Then it hit me. Most business owners, myself included, tend to judge our current performance against perfection or an ideal state that can not be truly attained. We are always striving for more. While noble, it's also sad at the same time. With that metric, we will always fall short, feel disappointed, fail to enjoy the journey, and probably burn out early.
Why do many entrepreneurs, myself included, measure forward against perfection? Because many of us are Type A, driven, goal-oriented and demanding zealots. While it may drive us to achieve incredible heights, it will also drive us nuts and leave us feeling empty, frustrated, and unhappy. We believe we must achieve incredible levels to be happy. But since we can never reach perfection we fall short of our unrealistic goals and can feel disappointed and at times, even miserable.
Let's stop the insanity now! Let's get some balance in our measurements. Instead, why don't we occasionally learn to measure backward instead of just forward? Let's all commit to look at our performance against last quarter's or last year's performance. Or let's look at how far we've come. Let's learn to see and appreciate our progress. We will all be much happier and we will enjoy the business-ownership journey.
Fishman, thanks for the kick in the pants. With this business coaching blog, I have now officially taken the time to review and celebrate Growth Coach's fantastic progress. Hopefully, this blog will also help other business owners learn to look back and recognize and appreciate how far they have come. Fishman, be sure to send me a coaching invoice!
Daniel M. Murphy
President, Co-Founder, Business Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System
Certified Business Coaches throughout North America