The information to Win in Business, the information to Win in Life, all wrapped up in one winning, weekly email. Winformation Weekly.

My 14 years’ experience of growing a business from £0-£100m as well as the life that goes with it.

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Simon Says

Winformation this week...

“Slip inside the eye of your mind, don’t you know you might find a better place to play”. As you can’t go 20 minutes without hearing Oasis greatest hits at the moment, I’ve been thinking more and more about the opening line of Don’t Look Back in Anger. This line means something totally different to me now than it did when I was 14. This song is all about looking forward and visualising something better, not focussing on the past. Add the lyric, “so I started a revolution from my bed” and I think we can all agree the meaning of this song could be the soundtrack to totally transforming your life and your outcome. Being able to hold viiivid images of your dream life in your mind and “living” the experiences in your mind’s eye is a key factor in living out your dreams or not. Below in today’s One Idea to Win in Life we look at what visualisation is and how to do it.

About 7 or 8 years ago, a single sentence that an employee said to me totally transformed the way I look at delegation. Up to that point, I hated asking people to do things for me. I thought I was being a “great boss” by getting everything done myself. I would hate to bother people with things I could in theory easily do myself. Then he said something that changed it all. Below in today’s One Idea to Win in Business I tell you what he said, how it changed my outlook and the steps I took to become a master at delegation.

One Idea to Win in Business

Why Doing It All Yourself Is Slowing Everyone Down: How to Delegate Like a Pro

When we first set up our business in 2011, like many founders/operators we had to do EVERYTHING ourselves. We trialled software, prepared our bookkeeping, went on client visits, and grabbed the teabags on the way back to our garage based temporary office. It was non-stop.

Depending on where you are on your entrepreneurial journey, you like me, have either spent years doing everything yourself…or are about to enter a period where you wear all the hats. If you bootstrap your business, it’s unavoidable, and (I think) an essential part of the process to eventually be able to understand every facet of your operation.

But…there comes a time. A time where you must start to hand these tasks to others. To build a 7 or 8 figure business, you are going to need the support of a team.

"I'll Quickly Just Do It Myself"

That was my problem. Even with our first 10-15 hires, I and the other founders seemed to still be running around and doing most of the smaller tasks ourselves. I was particularly bad at thinking “I’ll quickly just do it myself”. I need to explain, this wasn’t from an arrogant “no-one can do it as well as me” mindset. It was simply that I often felt bad asking others to do things that in theory I “could” do for myself.

I did it for a number of years, and looking back this was crazy. My time was taken thinking about and operating parts of the business I shouldn’t have been involved with. This essentially meant the whole team suffered as I couldn’t assist with the bigger, more strategically impactful parts that would have benefitted everyone. This was until an employee said to me one day “why didn't you ask me to do that? Don’t you think I can?” - from that moment, the way I saw delegation flipped on it’s head.

My 4 Big Learnings

Over the past 14 years, here are my 4 big learnings when it comes to delegation as a founder/operator. I hope you find something valuable here:

People WANT to be Delegated to

If they don’t, you may have hired the wrong person. Think about it, imagine being a new starter in company and after a year your “boss” hasn’t given you any new tasks or things to develop or stretch you.

Every time you ask for something new, they are running around, stressed and not able to sit with you and work out a development plan because they are fixing a printer. I had to work hard to reframe delegation in my mind, the right hires WANT new things to stretch them and develop their careers. They see it as a gift. Once you see it this way, it makes delegation far easier.

"But They Will Make Mistakes"

Yes, they will, as you did. But it’s how they learn…the same way you did. A task 80% “done well” and done by someone else, is better than 100% perfect and done by you.

Delegation is There to Save Your Motivation, Not Just Time

Most people see delegation as something that simply frees up your time, but you can also delegate (or hire in) people to complete the tasks that you hate doing. That’s a luxury you can afford yourself later, after years or HAVING to do it. Protecting your interest and motivation is just as important for the business as protecting your time. This was a “mind blown” realisation for me.

The Follow Up is Everything

You need to develop a system that ensures everything that is delegated is followed up on. Outlook, a diary, a spreadsheet – it doesn’t matter, but the minute people get conformable with the knowledge that you won’t follow up, is when people start becoming selective about actioning what they’ve been asked to do. And that’s a no-no.

So, for you and your business to grow, along with the careers and lives of everyone connected to your operation, it might be time to starting thinking “Who, Not How”.

One Idea to Win in Life

Visualise to Materialise: Your Brain Doesn’t Know It’s Not Real - Here’s How to Use That to Your Advantage

There are many moving parts when determining who achieves the life they have always dreamed of and who doesn't. Let’s face it you’re starting the race further up the track if you’ve had a good education and you’re from a supporting family, I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But one of the biggest factors is the ability to hold the images of your most desired outcomes in your mind. Visualisation is something else we have talked about. Some still think of it as some kind of hocus pocus. But if you haven’t tried it, I do urge you to introduce it into your life. Here’s why visualisation works and how you can do it. 

1. See it in your mind. You need to be able to vividly imagine whatever it is you want to achieve.  You need to see, touch and taste it in your mind. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “watch your thoughts; they become your words; watch your words; they become your actions.” By visualising a clear goal, it can guide your thoughts, which become your actions. 

2. Cultivate a positive state of mind. American business coach Tony Robbins likes to begin every day with a 10-minute priming exercise, where he puts his thoughts and focus on creating in his mind the right conditions for a great day. It sounds a lot better than sleeping in and rushing into work late. 

3. Reprogramme your brain. Essentially, your brain is a computer. It’s been programmed by you. Or to be more specific what you’ve been thinking. By visualising your desired chosen outcome and connecting that to your daily activity you slowly begin to change how you think about yourself. 

4. Make it happen. Mike Tranter is the author of the book A Million Things to Ask a Neuroscientist. He said, “When you close your eyes and visualise something, you engage the neural circuitry in much the same way as if you were to really experience it. Your brain doesn’t really care that you’re not actually having the experience, your neurons are still activated.” He explains that over time, this leads to adaptive changes in the brain. By visualising yourself being accepted for your dream role, or seeing a specific number in your bank account, your brain thinks it’s really happening. As a result, you will act accordingly with behaviour that is aligned with your desired outcome. 

Win or Wonder?

Ask Me a Question…

No matter where you are on this mad journey. Starting out, scaling up, or somewhere in the messy middle feel free to ask me anything.

Business, life or mindset, I read and reply to every question. The best ones will get featured in future editions of Winformation, with your permission of course!

To ask, just hit “reply”, type away, and send. That’s it. No forms. No fuss.

Until next week! 

Let’s win, together!