All business problems stem from a mindset problem. Without healing your mindset, generally the issues are very difficult to solve. There are a few big ones I tend to see when supporting my clients with their businesses, but the one I want to address today is procrastination.

What is procrastination?

As a business owner, you are always trying to be productive. You want to use your time productively and feel that constant drive to get things done. Unfortunately, this mindset can cause problems within teams because the other team members might not share this same urgency. They might even be stuck in the opposite mindset of procrastination. But, it’s not as simple as telling someone to “just stop that” or “stop procrastinating.”

If you’re still a solopreneur, it could be that you have a lot of resistance around building a team. Maybe you’re nervous you won’t find the right people. If you have a team, maybe you have the wrong people doing the wrong jobs. Either way, you have a really hard time delegating effectively.

Bottom line? Your mindset is holding you back from building and managing a successful business with a supportive team. Procrastination might be the symptom, but it stems from a fundamental lack of understanding as to what you are actually trying to achieve in your business.

So what is the solution?

It starts with changing your mindset about why you are doing what you’re doing.

If you’re a solopreneur without a team, chances are you’ve stretched past a point where you can efficiently do it all yourself. If you haven’t reached that point, you will soon and it’s time to start preparing.

The first step is understanding what your business actually is. If you want to be successful, it has to be more than something you’re doing on the side of job that pays the bills.

If you’re trying to simply “get by,” then that’s all your business will ever achieve for you (and maybe not even that). Your business will not be able to grow beyond that point. You’ll be stuck in survival mode forever, which is basically death for a business. It will never make the impact it could.

To build something big, you have to be willing to dream bigger than your current circumstances allow for. If your business is only what you want it to be because you’ve allowed yourself to not think beyond it, you’re going to have a hard time.

Answer these questions:

What if you were to find the perfect people for your business? How would that change things? What is the end result you’re trying to achieve with money, time and resources?

Now write this down about why it matters.

Once you have a strong understanding of WHY, then here is what you do next:

If you want to build something big, you have to be willing to dream bigger than your current circumstances allow for.

Write out each of the major projects or tasks that you need to complete in your business, then circle the ones that are directly related to achieving that end result you wrote about above. Make sure it’s an outcome not a task. For example, “Blog Post about widget” is a task and “Generate new leads and sales through blogging” is an outcome.

Next, ask yourself: How can I get that project done? Don’t just suggest doing it or hiring someone to do it for you. That won’t work. If you’re not careful, you’ll just keep coming up with reasons for not getting it done.

The trick is to take a step back and think about the resources you have available—both human and non-human. For example, “I could ask Alex to help out with this project” or “Alex needs my support on another job so I won’t be able to spend time on this project.”

So, what you do is break the project down into portions and distribute it equally amongst your team-members.

Work with them to build accountability around their portion of the work. If they are not doing their part, then hold them accountable—just like every other team member would be held accountable for their job.

How can I get started?

If you are ready to take responsibility for your business and the team that you have put together, then you are going to want to start by changing your mindset. You need to understand WHY it’s important that goals are met and tasks are done. You’ll need to know how it will affect not only your business goals, but also personal goals.

Once you have a strong understanding of WHY, then it’s time to take action.

You’ll need to make yourself accountable for getting tasks done through a project management tool or app. Track due dates and progress in order to stay on top of what needs to be done and when. Lastly, do weekly accountability meetings with the team so that everyone knows what needs to be done and everyone is accountable for their actions.

If you don’t have a team, determine if it’s the right time to form one!  It’s not easy to do everything yourself all the time, so how can you get help?

Determine what your first project is going to be, then break it down into smaller tasks and assign them out. You’ll quickly find that working with others on a long-term basis can be rewarding for everyone involved, if they are willing.

Final Thoughts

Any business problem stems from a mindset issue, and procrastination is no exception. It’s important that you dream bigger than your current circumstances allow for, and then build a solid team around you to execute. If you keep procrastinating, then it’s going to be a lot harder for your business to grow. Need support? Don’t know where to start when it comes to forming a team? How about evaluating their effectiveness? Let’s schedule your free strategy call with DeDee!