{"id":1940,"date":"2011-07-21T08:58:02","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T12:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection"},"modified":"2011-07-21T08:58:02","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T12:58:02","slug":"business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection","title":{"rendered":"Business Growth Challenge &#8211; Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Why do we <a title=\"Business Coaching Clients, Business Owner, Growth Coach\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/Services\/ClientTestimonials\/tabid\/1168\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business owners<\/a> torture ourselves?\u00a0 Very often we measure our current results only against perfection (our ideal goals).\u00a0<\/strong> With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment.\u00a0 More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are we really that crazy?\u00a0 YES!\u00a0<\/strong> We seldom take time to enjoy the journey, gauge and celebrate our incredible progress.\u00a0 We tend to only look ahead to our big, audacious goals and not behind to see our progress, how far we have truly come.\u00a0 <strong>I am certainly guilty of this.\u00a0 Are you?<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Case in point.<\/em>\u00a0 The <a title=\"Business Coaching, Growth Coach\" href=\"http:\/\/www.TheGrowthCoach.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Growth Coach<\/a>, a North American <a title=\"Business Coaching Franchise, Growth Coach Franchise\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/Franchising\/tabid\/1175\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business coaching franchise<\/a> system, hit our 8th anniversary in May<\/strong> \u2026 the date when our first franchise owner, <a title=\"Business Coach Tim Shepelak, Growth Coach\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/tshepelak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Shepelak<\/a>, joined our system.\u00a0 Tim is still with us today, coaching hundreds of small business clients each year, doing great, and having a balanced and fulfilled life.\u00a0 I am proud of him and thrilled for his family. I hope they celebrated his 8th anniversary as a Growth Coach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For me, sadly, the 8th anniversary date pretty much came and went.\u00a0<\/strong> Like many entrepreneurs, <strong>I did not take the proper time to slow down, reflect, review our incredible progress, and truly celebrate our successful journey to date.<\/strong>\u00a0 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 by our 9th anniversary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I am somewhat ashamed to admit it but I failed to take note of our 8th year accomplishments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Franchise owners\/certified <a title=\"Talk with a Business Coach, Growth Coach\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/Services\/TalkwithaCoach\/tabid\/389\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">business coaches<\/a> in over 150 markets throughout North America;<\/li>\n<li>Our first international master franchise in Ecuador;<\/li>\n<li>That we launched a new expansion plan overseas;<\/li>\n<li>That our newer <a title=\"Sale Coaching, Growth Coach Sales Mastery\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/Services\/SalesMastery\/tabid\/19709\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sales coaching &amp; accountability offering<\/a> is selling very well;<\/li>\n<li>That system-wide revenues and number of clients served are at all-time record high\u2019s;<\/li>\n<li>That we coach several thousand small business owners each and every year \u2026 transforming their businesses and lives for the better;<\/li>\n<li>That <a title=\"Greg Scheingold, Growth Coach President\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/Home\/AboutUs\/tabid\/1169\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Greg Scheingold<\/a> was elevated to President of The Growth Coach; and<\/li>\n<li>That we are blessed to continue to attract top-caliber and amazing professionals to our franchise community who are seeking greater success, significance and fulfillment as business coaches and entrepreneurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>I did this list not to impress anyone, but to simply impress upon everyone that we owners can fail to \u201cstop and smell the roses\u201d along the way \u2026 and that\u2019s a form of madness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is it so hard for business owners, me included, to stop, reflect and celebrate?\u00a0<\/strong> Many of our franchise owners\/business coaches are guilty of this as well.\u00a0\u00a0 In my case, truth be told, I felt uncomfortable reflecting on the franchise system\u2019s progress and celebrating.\u00a0 In my crazy Irish head, I kept saying BUT, BUT, BUT &#8230; but compared to where I think Growth Coach COULD HAVE BEEN after eight years, we came up somewhat short \u2026 and the great recession didn\u2019t help at all.\u00a0 <strong>You see, like YOU, I set incredibly high goals &#8230; more often than not, TOO HIGH of goals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why could I not simply acknowledge and enjoy the tremendous progress?\u00a0<\/strong> Then it hit me.\u00a0 <strong>Most business owners, myself included, tend to judge our current performance against perfection or a desired ideal state that cannot be truly attained.\u00a0 <em>We are always striving for more \u2026 for perfection.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> While noble, it&#8217;s also sad at the same time.\u00a0 With that metric, we will always fall short, feel disappointed, fail to enjoy the journey, and probably burn out early.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why do most entrepreneurs measure forward against perfection or our desired ideal state?\u00a0<\/strong> Because many are <strong>Type A<\/strong>, driven, goal-oriented and demanding zealots.\u00a0 Others are<strong> idealists<\/strong> and want to serve and help as many as possible.\u00a0 While all this may drive us to achieve incredible heights, it will also drive us nuts and leave us feeling empty, frustrated, and unhappy.\u00a0 <strong>Many of us believe we must achieve incredible levels or lofty goals or help heal the world<\/strong> to be happy.\u00a0 <strong>But since we can never reach perfection, we fall short of our unrealistic goals and can feel disappointed and at times, even miserable.\u00a0\u00a0 <em>There is another way, a real solution !<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s stop the madness and insanity now!\u00a0 <strong>Let&#8217;s get some balance in our measurements.\u00a0 Instead, why don&#8217;t we occasionally learn to measure backward instead of just forward?\u00a0<\/strong> Let&#8217;s all commit to look at our performance against last quarter&#8217;s or last year&#8217;s performance.\u00a0 Or let&#8217;s look at how far we&#8217;ve come in a year, or three years, or five years, or since business launch.\u00a0 <strong>Let&#8217;s learn to see and appreciate our progress and count our blessings.\u00a0 We will all be much happier and we will enjoy the business-ownership journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With this business coaching blog, I have now officially taken the time to review and celebrate Growth Coach&#8217;s fantastic progress.\u00a0 Thank you for allowing me to do so.\u00a0 I do feel much better \u2026 while I came up short on some of my big, audacious goals, the look-back progress has been amazing.\u00a0 <strong>Hopefully, this blog will also help other business owners learn to look back and recognize and appreciate how far they have come.\u00a0 <em>Measure backward, not just forward.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why do we business owners torture ourselves?\u00a0 Very often we measure our current results only against perfection (our ideal goals).\u00a0 With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment.\u00a0 More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated. Are we really that crazy?\u00a0 YES!\u00a0 We seldom take time to enjoy the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[855,857,876,930,1105,951,858,860,861,1059,863,897,864,935,865,937,867],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-coaching","tag-benefits-of-business-coaching","tag-business-coach","tag-business-coaching","tag-business-coaching-advice","tag-business-coaching-guarantee","tag-business-coaching-tips","tag-business-owner","tag-business-owner-mindset","tag-business-systems","tag-delegation","tag-entrepreneur","tag-growth-coach","tag-leadership","tag-marketing","tag-small-business-management","tag-strategic-business-owner","tag-strategic-mindset"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why do we business owners torture ourselves?\u00a0 Very often we measure our current results only against perfection (our ideal goals).\u00a0 With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment.\u00a0 More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated. Are we really that crazy?\u00a0 YES!\u00a0 We seldom take time to enjoy the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Growth Coach of Boston West\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-21T12:58:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"753\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Growth Coach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Growth Coach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection\",\"name\":\"Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-21T12:58:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/7e01e3e04c601ef69092843058af4fa5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg\",\"width\":753,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"5\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business Growth Challenge &#8211; Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/\",\"name\":\"The Growth Coach of Boston West\",\"description\":\"Better Business - Better Results - Better Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/7e01e3e04c601ef69092843058af4fa5\",\"name\":\"The Growth Coach\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be62eea8684dcde444723c824866eca767ea78aa2ad76a7a0484a7a02e4686e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be62eea8684dcde444723c824866eca767ea78aa2ad76a7a0484a7a02e4686e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Growth Coach\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West","og_description":"Why do we business owners torture ourselves?\u00a0 Very often we measure our current results only against perfection (our ideal goals).\u00a0 With that measuring stick, there will be lots of disappointment.\u00a0 More times than not, we will come up short and feel frustrated. Are we really that crazy?\u00a0 YES!\u00a0 We seldom take time to enjoy the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection","og_site_name":"The Growth Coach of Boston West","article_published_time":"2011-07-21T12:58:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":753,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Growth Coach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Growth Coach","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection","url":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection","name":"Business Growth Challenge - Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection - The Growth Coach of Boston West","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg","datePublished":"2011-07-21T12:58:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/7e01e3e04c601ef69092843058af4fa5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.jpg","width":753,"height":450,"caption":"5"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/business-growth-challenge-stop-the-madness-of-measuring-against-perfection#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Growth Challenge &#8211; Stop the Madness of Measuring Against Perfection"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/","name":"The Growth Coach of Boston West","description":"Better Business - Better Results - Better Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/7e01e3e04c601ef69092843058af4fa5","name":"The Growth Coach","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be62eea8684dcde444723c824866eca767ea78aa2ad76a7a0484a7a02e4686e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be62eea8684dcde444723c824866eca767ea78aa2ad76a7a0484a7a02e4686e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Growth Coach"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrowthcoach.com\/boston-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}