9 Mistakes A Seeking Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader Should Not Do
Being an Entrepreneur, Manager or a Leader is not an easy job. There are many things in the Business which need your 24×7 attention, an Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader is often expected to wear multiple hats simultaneously. This is especially true in case of a small business, which have limited resources at their disposal. Achieving maximum number of things in as limited a time as possible is, hence, a priority for a small-scale businessman.
Here are nine things an Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader should not do, to ensure productivity and success.
1. Never Hesitate To Say “No”..
As an Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader, it is crucial that you say no whenever you cannot do something for a friend, relative or colleague. You should learn to say it, without feeling guilty about doing so.
Saying yes when you have a lot of things on your plate already and badly want to say no will only affect your work and schedule. I’ve personally been guilty because of this in early days of my Entrepreneurship. I was hesitant and I refused to say “No” on couple of occasions, while I had more than 90% conviction of long term trouble with certain deals I agreed. People learn with experience, so does a Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader, but once you learn from your past mistakes, make sure you never repeat those in the future. Learn to say “No”, when you have inner conviction to say so. Don’t think what the other person would think about your decision. Someone might feel offended for a day or 2 if you say “No”, but things can get worse if your deal fails and the relations can get stretched beyond a limit in such a case.
2. Never Gossip
Never gossip about anyone behind their backs. Gossiping will not only make the person feel bad when he/she comes to know about it, but will also spoil your relations with him/her. Also, it will affect your work, and take away your valuable time.
Instead of speaking about people, learn to talk to the people concerned directly, if something is bothering you. Indulge in meaningful, productive conversations with people, instead of mindless gossip. Responsible people always talk less, but sensible. What you talk should be the Truth, Meaningful and positive.
3. Do Not Let Past Mistakes Hold You Back
Everyone makes mistakes in their lives. An Entrepreneur/Manager/Leader is no exception. Do not let the mistakes you have made in your business in the past dictate your future course of action. Learn from your mistakes, and let them be the stepping stones to your future, instead.
Brooding over the bitter past will only reduce your productivity by taking away your precious time.
4. Do Not Wait For Success
If you have a good business idea, never wait for success to come to you. Take charge, and be willing to face the results. If you succeed, you will have an amazing experience. If you fail too, you will have a great learning experience.
If you keep waiting for the right time to come when you will be sure about the success of your business idea, it will only affect your productivity.
5. Never Use Your Phone When You Are Talking To Someone
It is a very bad practice to constantly use your phone when you are talking to someone.
Sending text messages, calling, checking emails or playing games on cellphone while having a conversation with someone, you will only make them feel undervalued. It will affect your relationship with the concerned person, as well as lead to wastage of time because you are not really listening to him/her.
6. Do Not Multitask When You Are In A Meeting
Resist the temptation to get a little bit of your work done during a business meeting.
It is not good to do multiple tasks when you are part of a meeting. This will distract your focus from the agenda of the meeting and will not let you to pay complete attention to what others are saying. Ultimately, this will affect your productivity, not to mention that the other people in the meeting will feel that you are not giving them their due attention.
7. Never Give Your Precious Time To People Who Do Not Add Value To Your Life
The one who does not add value to your life, you do not need to give your precious time. Avoid putting up appearances and faking an interest in such people’s chat. If you are busy with your work, say so.
Rather than that, give your valuable time to the people who really matter to you, such as your family, friends, relatives and employees.
8. Never Use Notifications
Avoid using notifications for new e-mail, tweets or Facebook posts, unless you absolutely need them. You do not really need to know about a new post or tweet that goes up or you receive a new e-mail.
These notifications will distract your focus from your everyday work, and hamper your productivity.
9. Dream Big, But Realistic
People often dream big and wish to become a Millionaire or Billionaire overnight. I’ve been to one Indian Town where people were buying Lottery tickets by selling their assets and jewelry of their family members. Heaps of lottery tickets were lying all over the road and every other shopkeeper was selling lottery tickets. Some people working in BPO’s have often made mistakes of selling their database to other competitors, many times you send an email enquiry to some online product offering firm and you receive a spam email from one of their competitors. Recent cricket betting and match fixing episodes are hot examples of how some successful people spoil their dream run due to their unrealistic dreams. such dreams often result in fraud and then with suffering and depression. If you dream big, make sure you dream realistic and also prepare yourself to work hard to make your realistic dreams come true.
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Great points well written very apt !! Can surely try and put most to practis !! Keem them coming chief !!
Vinchurkar
Piyush: Excellent down-to-earth points. Let me highlight some of your points.
"Instant success" is sometimes 20 years in the making. The impetuous and impatient youth pining for the instant million dollars usually overlooks the terribly hard life that entrepreneurs lead to generate success for a whole community.
Time, as always, is the most valuable asset — often realized too late. You regret later in life all the chances you did NOT take. So while you have the opportunity, carpe diem (seize the day).
Never hesitate to say "No" — but say it without discouraging people to come to you with more ideas. Lesson learned from Lakshmi Mittal: every time he told me "no", he always encouraged me to go to him with more ideas.
Past mistakes are not an indicator of future outcome, but we have to break out of any repeating pattern that many people have. Similarly — reality check — past successes are also not an indicator of future outcome. So just because a strategy succeeded in the past, does not mean it will necessarily succeed again. So the successful entrepreneur often has to stop saying "I know what works, because I have been there and done it".
Cheers!
Probal
Thanks Doctor ^_^
Thanks for adding your experience Probal, You are far more experienced than me as an Entrepreneur and there's always something new to learn from an experienced person like you 🙂