I had a coffee meeting on Monday this past week, it was Victoria Day. I met with my colleague, Dr. Vibe, aka Ed Gough. As we chat about life and business, exchanging ideas and opportunities…we both agreed that we were “grinding it out”. Meaning sometimes in your work, life or business, you have to grind.
For those reading this, there is no magic bullet to success. Everyone that has made it big in life or business has had to grind. You gotta keep going. Battling through and by battles I mean battling through your inner thoughts, the thoughts that are the fear based thoughts, your inner critic, or the the inner voice that says you can’t, it will never happen!
Then you have to battle the clients that say no, or the bank that turns you down for financing, or the deal that doesn’t happen even after you put your heart and soul into it.
Now don’t get me wrong, by the use of the word battle, I don’t mean or want to suggest that you see everything in life as a fight or struggle, but what I do mean is that you constantly are faced with internal and external struggles and challenges and you have to “Grind it out”, so to speak.
Watch the hockey playoffs for example, the goals happen because the players are fighting for the puck in the corner. Or in baseball, a run scores, because you have to watch the balls and strikes and look for a good pitch to hit. If you don’t get a hit you could walk, or you could just strike out. Tough luck man! Keep at it, there is a next at bat later in the game, maybe then you can get on base with a hit or a walk! But keep at it, keep grinding.
Maybe you play music, what is the old saying as to how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.
Maybe you’re a doctor, this profession takes years of studying and a lot of 20 hour plus days working as an intern at a hospital, well before you graduate and can officially add the letters, M.D. besides your name.
Life, relationships, work, or business is sometimes a grind!
I wish I could sugar coat it for you. I wish I could say it is easy…but sometimes it isn’t. In fact most days it isn’t.
You have to grind it out. Keep going, Keep at it. But along this journey, you can make it brighter…and here is how!
- Get a supporting cast around you, get a buddy, a mentor, a coach, an accountant, lawyer, someone who gets what you are going through and has been on the journey or is on the journey as well, someone who can guide you.
2. Make sure you enjoy the grind, take the time to have balance in your life. Stop and smell the roses, go for a nature trail walk, go to see a band play music or an art gallery. Go on date night with your significant other, have a play day with your kids, or just have a family dinner with no cell phones once a week…just to talk and share ideas. Meditate, journal, exercise each day or most days if you can! Connect with fun friends and people, take a course in something new…The grind is going to be there…so make the journey enjoyable.
3. Hold the vision…the grind is the day-to-day stuff you have to do to get to your vision. Hold onto that end goal, create a mission or goal around your destination, what is the outcome you want to achieve?
4. Pace yourself, some days the grind will be slow…so slow…so pace yourself, take a break from it, go outside and breathe the air, exercise in the middle of the day, be sure to re-fuel with a healthy lunch and snack. But pace yourself, “Rome was not built in a day”…so keep chipping away, keep grinding it out…don’t lose sight of your goal and vision and one day, soon, when you have achieved what you set out to do, you will look back proudly and you will feel so good, so good, that you have slayed the “Grind” and won!
Make it a great week!
David :))
BIO:
David is an author, business coach and facilitator and was the former host/producer and creator of the Small Business Big Ideas Show heard weekly for over 9 years. David has taught thousands over the years in both the non-profit and for profit sectors and has coached hundreds of start-ups to make those important first steps. He specializes in helping small business owners mine their strengths, get clear on their value, their markets and then begin to develop a sales and marketing game plan that gets results.
He also can be booked to do his keynote presentations; “The 8 Keys to Success, How I got to Kiss the Stanley Cup and his new keynote called “A breakthrough-through the glass”- how to overcome the fear that life and business might throw your way. He leads workshops in sales, marketing, market research, business plans, target marketing and customer service programs. David is currently with the City of Toronto, heading up an entrepreneur training program for inner city youth and adults. He has taught thousands and coached numerous clients in the area of Small Business Start-ups and business growth strategies.