Beliefs, Values, Habits, and the Business Owner
Being so ‘immersed and enthralled by your work that you completely lose track of time’ sounded like an unattainable dream to Mark. This mental state is known as ‘being in your flow’. This concept of ‘being in your zone’ is used prolifically in Positive Psychologyi. When Mark heard about this it became a lifestyle that he was adamant to implement in both his business and personal lives.
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”
Csikszentmihalyi, 1990ii
Mark maintained a solid focus on his values. He would not bend on his integrity and believed in hard work. He realised that valuing loyalty could be detrimental to his relationships and his business. With the new concept of flow, he understood that he had to ease up on this value because it sucked his energy and defocused him. Looking at his core values: honesty, integrity, status, and achievement, it was clear that if Mark functioned in an environment that was conducive to his values, he was more likely to be in his flow.
Being curious and conscientious by nature, Mark read the following article and watched the embedded video to understand the 8 characteristics of ‘Being in your Flow’→
He wanted to work towards the ideal of not feeling stressed and not watching the clock. To do this, he asked his business coach to share examples of previous clients who had been able to achieve this state. He was willing to adapt his beliefs, which he had learned to do in the face of new information.
The first thing Mark’s Business Coach shared with him was that people who were ‘in the flow’ practiced certain habits and built their lives around these.
These habits were based on their beliefs which rested on the foundation of their values.
Mark was intrigued by this because he thought that your habits were formed subconsciously, not as deliberate actions to reach a result. He started to implement the advice of his Business Coach and learned that he was most functional first thing in the morning. Therefore, he cleared his diary for 2 hours at the beginning of each day. His goal was to move that up to 3 hours, but 2 hours was a big enough stretch for him now. During that time, he worked on the things that were urgent and important. That way his mind was clear for the rest of that day.
Very soon he noticed that those 2 hours went past so quickly that he didn’t realise the time! He had done it through one simple step! Mark reached 2 hours of being in his zone. He was happy working on his own doing the things that mattered to him. The work he did was challenging for him and stimulating, yet not impossible.
His Business Coach had told him that this was the perfect balance to being in the flow.
Once he saw this, he now believed that he could schedule the rest of his time to work on what mattered most. Mark wanted achievement and status. Part of that meant he needed to achieve goals and be seen as an achiever. He asked his secretary to schedule a lunch every week in a different restaurant that was positioned in a prominent place and that was ‘the place to be seen’. By being there, with other people of status, Mark felt that he had achieved his goal of recognition by society.
Although not directly related to his work, this positive reinforcement encouraged him to work in his flow so that he could take the time for lunch and afford the lunch. Even though this motivation was external to his direct working calendar, it was a reward that assisted him to keep in the flow.
Once Mark had tasted this way of working, he believed that he could shift his beliefs and habits gradually over time so that at least half of his day would be in his positive mental zone. He needed to be realistic that his whole working day could never be this way as even if he saw difficult clients as part of a challenge that he could solve, there would always be demands on him, and as a business owner, that would be stressful.
Mark was delighted at his new way of working. It overflowed into his personal life as he felt much easier and more content.
If you are looking to boost how much you know about yourself, and how you can enhance your business, contact a professionally qualified Business Coach at SA Business Coaches→
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