There has been much written about “How to grow your business”, speaking or otherwise. How to look. How to market. How to present your message. While all that information is helpful, there seems to be one component that is missing: Self-discipline.

What do I mean when I say “self-discipline”? What I mean is making ourselves do the things we don’t really want to do. In his December 21, 2010 article for ICS  magazine, Steve Toburen refers to this action as the Insidious "Displacement Activity". Basically this article states that on any given day we have this check list of business activities we should be doing. The majority of us will chose to do the things we like to do and avoid the things we don’t like, regardless of their importance to our business success.  This problem really transcends into all businesses, but for the solopreneur, it is the most pronounced. Whatever the task, if you don’t do it and there is no one else to whom you can delegate, it simply does not get done.

We could get into a long discussion about different temperaments and their different strengths, but really, “people” people like to be around other people. Most people get into public speaking because they enjoy communicating with others. Makes sense, right? So what does that leave? …Marketing, research, bookkeeping, and all the things that takes you from where you are now to where you want to be.

Let’s look at it this way: You want to build a shed. You spend a lot of time looking at plans and finally choose a design you like. You copy the plans, go mark a place in your back yard to put the shed, get the permit, and save the money. But the thing you hate to do is go to the building center. So you put if off. You don’t go this week. You find an excuse why you can’t go next week. The week after that you are way too busy. Soon it’s November and you still don’t have a shed and your lawn mower is covered in snow. Although you accomplished six of your seven tasks, you were not successful because all seven tasks needed to be completed.

This is exactly how it works in business. We may be really good at many business tasks, but if we neglect one or more necessary items we are unable to achieve the success we want to obtain.

What can we do to avoid this great pitfall?

1. Acknowledge: Understand that this is a problem that needs to be addressed.
2. Be realistic: There are only so many hours in a day. Consider all your obligations and decide how much time you are able to devote to your business.
3. Construct a plan: Include the different tasks that need to be completed on a daily, weekly, or longer basis. Devote the first hour of your day focused on the tasks you dislike doing. You won’t spend your day with these things hanging over you like a cloud. You will feel good about having gotten those tasks out of the way and it will lead to a more productive day in general.
4. Delegate: Consider eliminating some tasks altogether.  If you are a busy executive, you might hire a housekeeper to help keep your house in order. You would not think twice about hiring a CPA to do your taxes, an important task that requires a special skill set. In this same line of thinking, you may consider delegating business tasks that you are not very good at or just don’t like to do.

One item that is frequently ignored is marketing. Your business will never be successful if you don’t market. There is just no other way around it. Another is research. You will have a hard time landing speaking and entertainment engagements if you don’t do research to find and connect to perspective clients.

It’s a brand new year. As you are taking time to set your business goals (and I hope you are) honestly take stock of yourself. If there is something you KNOW you should be doing and you are not, devise a plan to get it done. Your business success depends on it.