Ready for a great year? Your best year ever? That’s the spirit.
For high-performing entrepreneurs, a new year feels a bit like the excitement you feel at the start of a marathon. You’ve dreamt about it. You’ve told your friends. You’ve trained. You’ve got the right shoes! Most importantly, you’ve made a commitment to go the distance.
The excitement is palpable and in January, you take those first critical steps. As you begin, I want you to think about January as the first 10 miles of a marathon. And I’ve written four posts to get you out of the crush of the starting crowd and put you in a position to break your personal record. Think of me as your coach, giving you a friendly “shove” in the back just when you need it.
Miles 2-4 – Find your running buddies
In our metaphorical marathon, the crowd has begun to thin a bit. And you are starting to see the same people around you. This can be a very powerful thing in a long race. Your group can sustain you, motivate you and help you along.
Just like any group of people – runners or entrepreneurs – each of you has your own unique set of skills. Some may be product development experts, some may be sales leaders or marketing tacticians, and some may be financial or operational wizards.
As you build momentum in January, identify one skill that you have that you can offer the group. Here’s the best way to think about this: If you were thrown into a room with a bunch of other entrepreneurs, what is one thing that you could teach the others? Once you identify this skill, then create the 30-minute presentation that you wished someone would have given you when you were starting.
When you give advice, you get smarter. It’s just like teaching—the more you teach the more you learn about that particular subject. So, early this year, convene your ‘running buddies’ once a week for a couple of hours and teach each other your unique skills. Not only will you learn a bunch of key skills, you will likely find that it takes your mind off of how hard you are running.
See the start of Craig’s series with “Mile 1 – The Warm-Up” and how to handle “Miles 5-7 Stretch Yourself“.