Why Do I Feel Like I am Drifting?

Who is ready to get a little bit better? If so, you should shout, “YES!”

Seriously, let’s get a little bit better because if you are not growing, you’re dying! Come on, we all know that. If you have been following me, you want to get a little bit better. Today I want to talk about something that is very real that we have all felt. The drift. I am going to tell you, I even felt it this week. And I had to ask myself why did I feel like I was drifting?

Why do you feel like you are drifting? Have you felt like that as an entrepreneur? Have you felt like you have lost direction? Or like you aren’t making the progress that you want to? Or did you think you would be further by now? Did you not accomplish what you wanted? Feeling like you are drifting aimlessly and not making the progress I want to?!

If you’re an entrepreneur, that’s normal. You’re normal.

I am going to give you a couple of answers to this because I have a little insight and experience. I have felt all of these things, even as recently as this last week white I was journaling. And I kept asking if there has been a drift that has kept me from my greatness. Let’s shine some light on it, strip it of its power.

Not Measuring

You’re not measuring your progress and you FEEL like you are drifting again. You may not be drifting, but there is an emphasis on feeling.

Where you started and where you are at today… if you have no form of measurement, you might feel like you haven’t done anything. You might be working hard, you might be grinding, you might be hustling… BUT you have no way to measure your actual progress. You don’t have numbers, you don’t have metrics, you have no way to know how many calls you have done. You don’t have ways to measure the stories of transformation with your clients (like I have in the past).

And there are all kinds of ways to measure success. Data, metrics, graphs, spreadsheets… and if you aren’t going to do it, you need someone on your team who is going to help you measure. BECAUSE if you don’t, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

You might feel like your team is just doing this and doing that. And then think, I don’t know what anyone is doing!? Ever had that moment as an entrepreneur when you think, my payroll is up… what the heck’s everyone doing for that money? And what am I getting for that money? Case and point: If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Measure the work that your team’s doing, you have got to measure their progress towards goals. You have got to measure the numbers.

If you don’t measure, you’re going to fall into that feeling of I don’t even know what I am doing. Drifting is closely related to not measuring.

Not Celebrating

Oh my goodness, I literally put the measuring and celebrating wins together. You must make it a habit, a culture around measuring and celebrating your wins. A great book to reference here is The Gap and The Gain by Dan Solomon and Benjamin Hardy. When I read that book, it became a part of every relationship, everywhere that I go I have created a culture of celebrating the wins. And truthfully, you can’t be around me without finding something good to celebrate… even if your day was crappy, you still have stuff to celebrate.

YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND A WIN.

You have to create culture around not just measuring the progress BUT where you can celebrate the wins. Nearly every single meeting I start with, What is your win for the day? By the way when you have teenagers, they can challenge you on answering this BUT it is amazing to create that culture with them. So ask, what was your highlight? Did something good happen today?

I cannot tell you how many clients that tell me stories of how they have made this a habit for their business meetings, now. You have got to create a culture that can be rewarding. When we bring our celebrations to the table, it may be celebrating the progress.

My friend, April Garcia (check out her podcast PivotMe), she talks about making an attaboy or attagirl folder and this goes personally to celebrating the wins. Every time you get a text, a note, an email, etc telling you that Hey, you made a difference in my life. Add it to that folder (digital or physical). So that anytime you have a down moment, you just go back. Cause whenever we have those moments where we feel like we are drifting, we can pull that out and celebrate those moments and remember the impact.

There are so many ways to create a culture around celebrating the wins. Be a business owner, be a person who does not just measure progress BUT also celebrates wins. Celebrate the impact, celebrate the influence.

Not Having a Plan

Miles Monroe said, You were not designed to drift, you were designed for destiny. Make a plan and fulfill it.

And this is in fact where I started my journaling for this week. I was thinking with all the progress I have been making, I feel like there’s been some drifting, as well. And then it clicked, was that even true? Which is always a great question to ask yourself. No, that’s not true because if I look at my growth chart from revenue alone, it just keeps going up. Growth is never a solid line… but it just keeps going up. So there has been steady progress in my business and the impact that I have been able to have, BUT what I did realize this week after I had an EOS (entrepreneur operating system) session, I didn’t have my plan mapped out. Ryan Henry, my EOS implementer – you should follow him on social – helped with designing what the 10 year targets were, the 3 year targets and what our 12 month plan is… and then we broke 12 months down into 90 day sections. We are going to live this in 90 day sections that are moving us closer toward that 10 year target.

All that was missing was the plan, I wasn’t drifting. I’ve had steady progress and growth. But I had not mapped our decisions, our structure, our growth and our revenue… BUT now, I’ve got the map.

Some of you may feel like you are drifting like I thought I was… but here’s the deal, I felt that way even though we just crossed over 1.5 million in revenue as a company. And I’m sitting here in my journal thinking maybe I am drifting. Well, that’s a bunch of BS. We have not been drifting, we have been steadily going up. BUT that didn’t stop me from feeling the drift because I lacked the plan.

Plan equals power.

I want you to have power. I want you to not feel the drift. I want you to feel certain. I want you to feel energized and on a mission. I’m telling you, you are not going to be able to feel that way without a plan, a map, a destiny that you’re moving towards. Sure, someone is going to say that 10 year plans are obsolete because the world is changing so fast. If I am honest, I feel the same way… BUT a plan is power. It might be a three year plan, a five year plan or a 12 month plan. I don’t care how you do it but from my experience a ten year plan crystalized has given vision, capacity, and energy on how to map all the things that we are doing to head towards that.

Why are you feeling the drift? Maybe it is because you’re not measuring, maybe it is because you are not celebrating, and maybe you need to create a plan. What are you going to measure this week to show your progress? What are you going to do to celebrate some wins? And what do you need to do to create a more concrete plan that maps out where you are moving towards to bring power to your life and business.

I hope this encourages you. Which one of these are you going to give attention this week? Celebrate? Measure? Plan? Which one are you going to add momentum and awareness to because we know you are already making progress, especially if you are hanging out here.

This is where you should go out there and give your greatness to the world because somebody needs what is on the inside of you. Go out there and give it away. Don’t hold back.