When The "One Thing" Is The WRONG Thing

Hello. Lots of us are getting the same message about success these days, that we have to select our one thing, massive persistence, consistent action in the same direction will yield results. My question for you today is, how do you know when the one thing is the wrong thing? Welcome. As entrepreneurs and business owners, we receive the same message a lot of the time around success. We are taught that success is not an overnight game, that we need dogged persistence, if we're going to succeed in the end, and also that we need to focus on the one thing. My name is Phil Jackson, I'm a coach and mentor, and I've made it my life's work to bring you the tools you need to master to build the business you deserve and enjoy. I have to say, I do think that overnight success is a complete myth. I think if you're seeing overnight success, you're failing to recognise the years of persistence and skilling and skilling and education that went in to making that success. But having said that, I do think it's perfectly valid at some stage to question whether your one thing is the right thing. I don't want to turn around on my deathbed and see 25 years of dogged determination on a project that never yielded the results, that never turned into the business I wanted, that never turned into the business that I enjoyed. So I have two points that I want to make about persistence. persistence and success. The first is that I think if you're really questioning whether your one thing is the right thing, I think we need to go back to the beginning of our goal setting process. I question whether lots of entrepreneurs have a really clear idea about what they want their businesses to deliver before they even embark on the project. So go back to the beginning, look at the goals that you set and look at whether you're starting to achieve those goals. And I'm afraid we have to stick to those targets like glue. So let's say we're going to set up a three year project that we expect at the end of three years is going to be turning over, say, half a million a year. Well, we can also set in a minimum acceptable level. Let's say that if we're hitting 300,000 a year at the end of three years, then there's enough potential in the business for us to go in, try and optimise and hit that slightly higher target. But guess what?

If we're going to get to 295,000 at the end of three years, it's time to pivot, it's time to look at a different project that is not hitting your minimum acceptable level, you're going to have to move aside and make space in your life for a new source of income. Yes, I know it's going to be tough. Three years is a long time to dedicate to something just to tear it up. But my goodness, let's just celebrate the learnings. Let's just wear our failure like a badge. Let's take that education from the last three years and turn that into greater success in our next project. My second point is, I don't necessarily think we should always have one thing. For lots of us business owners and entrepreneurs, we were already working in a full time job somewhere when we came up with the idea of our business. And lots of us were working on that on what's now called a side gig. We were working on that business while we were employed full time for somebody else. What I'm suggesting is that even in your own business, it may be healthy to have a small side gig as well. Maybe dedicate five to 10% of your working year to just a slightly different project. It doesn't have to be a massive pivot, doesn't have to be a million miles away from the business that you're working on at the moment. Now, if we get to our three year mark, and we're not seeing the results that we want to, maybe it's time for a little comparison. If there's more promise showing in that side gig that you're only dedicating five to 10% of your time in, maybe it's time to shift the ratio, start to invest more time in the side gig, and maybe even let it start to take over from what we're working on the rest of the week. I hope that's been useful to you. If it has, please reach out to me, Phil Jackson on Facebook. I would love to hear about your success. If it's been a useful broadcast, don't forget to subscribe. I do a broadcast like this every single week, and I would hate you to miss out on the content that I'm sharing. If you've already subscribed, I will see you next week. Take care.