Feeling lost in business? You’re not alone!

Where am I?

And where am I heading?

Have you ever thought to yourself, “What the heck am I doing?” Sometimes things like this happen and that’s okay. There are many reasons you might feel this way and there are a few ways you can combat this feeling.

Okay, it’s time for honesty hour (okay, it’s not really going to take an hour but you get it). I have felt like this about once a week. That’s okay though because I have used this feeling to push myself into better understanding what I am currently confused about. That’s not the easiest thing to do sometimes but my biggest rule for life is to find one thing each day and improve on it. That one rule drives me to become knowledgeable in many areas and forces me to learn things from website design to social media best practices to becoming a better writer.

By gradually enhancing my knowledge I am putting myself down a path to becoming an expert on these subjects. They say you need to have 10,000 hours under your belt in one area to become an expert in that subject. That sounds like an awful lot, and it is, but the only way you will reach that level is to learn and experience minute by minute, hour by hour.

Now what the heck are you doing?

A bit of thought can help you out.

Have you actually sat down lately to plan out what you want to do? Some people have no clue what to do because they haven’t taken the proper time to actually figure out what they want to do. Now while I want to become better in one area of life and business each day I have set out a goal  for what I want to be and what I want to be doing in the next year and five years. For example, I want to be a strong social media manager within the next year. I have set out a few tasks I need to accomplish each day to put myself on the right track such as reading industry blogs or writing posts for the company or researching the competitor. Now, this year I won’t reach the 10,000 hours to become a master but I will make a dent in those hours.

Another reason some people think, “What the heck am I doing?” is because they have way too much on their plates. Sometimes you overburden yourself and you can’t focus on what is important and what needs to be done. Whether you are a business owner or a contractor or employee there are times when you need to step back and reevaluate what you are doing. If you have no idea what you are doing it might be time to start to pare back some of your projects and focus on what is most profitable for you.

Over the past weekend, Colleen and I had a great call with our coach. We both have some wonderful and great goals for the company and ourselves personally. What we learned though is we are pushing ourselves too much, spreading ourselves too thin, and not focusing on what and where our bread and butter goes. Sometimes all it takes is a quick reminder and you are back on track.

Now just because you have these great ideas doesn’t mean you can’t pursue them; on the contrary, you should pursue them. However, putting safeguards into place is necessary to help your success continue far into the future. Do you have your systems in place for an employee to take over writing your social media? Do you have the personnel in place to process new clients? Do you have the means to fulfill your current clients needs? Sometimes if you try to stretch yourself too far without the proper support system, you and your business will fall into a rut that leaves you and your employees feeling, “What the heck am I doing?”

The solutions

Putting yourself back on track.

There are many solutions you can use to combat this feeling. I have mentioned a few but I will reiterate them here so as to accentuate their importance. My top three ways to combat the, “What the heck am I doing?” feeling:

1. Plan out where you want to be and how you want to get there.
2. Take a step back and see where you are, what you are good at, and where you might be failing.
3. Put the proper systems and personnel in place to allow yourself to grow.

I am sure you have felt this way before and I’m sure you will feel it again in the future. I know I have. But I hope you can take these thoughts and apply them to your own business to combat these crazy, unnerving, and quite frankly, scary moments.

What are some ways you have brought yourself out of that, “What the heck am I doing?” place?

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Have a wonderful day!