Years ago when I first got into the photo industry one of the first programs I attended was on goal planning. We were asked to write down as many of our goals in a few minutes as we could. At that time my goals all revolved around improving my photography, improving the business, and how to earn PPA print merits to hopefully earn some PPA Degrees one day.
When the process was over we were all asked to share some of our goals. The person I sat next to was older and more experienced. Her goals revolved around her health and taking good care of her business. I thought what? Health stuff? What? But it stuck with me. This health stuff must be important! So when I saw Lori Nordstroms blog about running a haelthy business it really struck home. Here’s an excerpt of what she shared.
I wanted to share with you my thoughts on a HEALTHY business. Being healthy (personally) plays an important role in how things happen in our lives, including in our businesses, so let’s go through the word healthy together in a little acronym I put together.
The habits that we develop for ourselves play a key role in our performance, both in business and in life. We form habits around what and when we eat and drink, when or if we exercise, what we do in our free time, how we run our business and so much more.
According to the author of “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg, to form new habits, or break old routines we’ve put in place, we have to look at the “habit loop”. Duhigg explains that habits are formed due to cues (or reminders), the behavior(action), and then the reward (or benefit), and understanding this “loop” is the key to breaking bad habits or forming new, better ones. We have to remove the cue or understand and change the reward, and the reward is usually a result of the way we think or feel.
Our lives are made up of habits. Think about it… what is your daily routine? Everything from bruising our teeth to putting away the dishes to running our businesses is all based on routines. If we are making a mess of our business – you can bet that there are some poor habits in place – like procrastinating, or getting on social media and scrolling instead of getting a certain task done, or not setting aside focused time for what needs to happen in our business (instead of just editing the next photo for way too long!).
Your habits, or what you repeatedly do, are directly related to your level of success. If you’re stuck in the repetition of bad habits, the best thing that you can do is make a commitment to not only cut things out but replace the bad habits with new ones. Set reminders for your new habit using something that you already do. Look to the cues for your old habits and decide how you will replace them with new/healthy ones
Start small. Plan for a new habit where failing isn’t an option. What will you do first, as soon as your alarm goes off (cue) in the morning? What will you do when it’s time for lunch? What will you do before bed each evening? Use things that are already happening every day and plug in new responses when those things happen.
Author Brian Tracy offers “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”. Those habits are:
Be goal-oriented
Be result-oriented
Be action-oriented
Be people-oriented
Be health-oriented
Stay honest
Be self-disciplined
You can read more about these habits from Brian Tracy here:
For your business to be healthy, and to attract the right clients, it should stand out from other businesses like yours. Remember, there is only one YOU, so play up your personality and your strengths. If you are true to who you are, there is no one that can compete with that! What are the things that make your business different and unique? What are the things that only you have to offer? How is the experience you offer your clients something that they will talk about?
A HEALTHY business will keep you motivated and in forward momentum. With a healthy business, you will attract the right clients, feel fulfilled and serve a purpose while being successful and creating a profit. It all can be achieved by establishing healthy habits, planning for financial success, surrounding yourself with successful, positive people, taking care of your self-talk, giving and being grateful, and by being You-nique.
Your habits (or what you repeatedly do) are directly related to your level of success.
