Lifting your head from time to time.

Never looking up from the ground makes walking dangerous. It’s easy to become this short-sighted when you and your business are facing a lot of present-moment obstacles and worries — issues like cash flow, attracting investors, keeping good team members, and so on. The cause of these concerns is unique to each situation, as is the specific remedy. But in many cases the common thing that’s missing, the thing that would make the biggest difference to your confidence and to the future of your business, is perspective.

Up against the ceiling.

It might seem like you don’t have time to strategize when you’re under pressure, but that’s when you need it the most. As your business grows, new issues will arise that you haven’t dealt with before, or on this scale, which form a ceiling between you and your next level of achievement. This ceiling can seem very real, even insurmountable. From your current perspective, it might be. What you need, then, is a new perspective.

Putting obstacles in perspective.

Focusing on obstacles one at a time can make your head spin. Just when you see a solution to one issue, another one appears. Without a systematic approach, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by complexity. In order to get some perspective, you need to extricate yourself for a moment from all of these issues, obstacles, and concerns and look at the bigger picture. The easiest way to do this is to focus on your goal in the situation and get really clear about the result you’re trying to create. This larger vision will help you transform your current circumstances. Put aside your current obstacles for the moment, and take time to step back and articulate your goal clearly including the timeframe in which you’re aiming to achieve it. Then think about what the result will look like when you’ve achieved this goal. What are the benefits? What is now true? Be as specific as possible. Taking this time may seem like a luxury, but it’s actually a necessity. The clarity you gain will give you a much-needed perspective on where you are now and will reenergize you about why you’re going through all this. In the context of this goal, the finite number of obstacles that currently stand in your way can be approached systematically.

Transforming raw material.

One of the foundation tools of The Strategic Coach Program™ is called The Strategy Circle®. It helps people rapidly make sense of complex issues by focusing your thinking to make use of how your mind already works. Your brain has three basic abilities. First, vision: It helps you come up with ideas and goals. Then opposition, coming up with all the obstacles that stand in the way of that goal. The bigger your goal, the more opposition. And finally, transformation — taking obstacles and transforming them into strategies. All the things that oppose your goals are actually the raw material you need to achieve them. The easiest way to create a comprehensive plan to get to any goal is to look at all the obstacles and come up with a strategy for each one. Being clear on your goal focuses you on what matters most. You can then prioritize and focus your problem-solving energy on strategizing solutions to those things that are going to help you make the most progress. Sometimes when you look at all your obstacles together, you can see how several issues stem from one central problem. You may also see that there’s a particular order in which things need to be tackled that you couldn’t see when you were looking at the obstacles in a less systematic way. Just seeing all the obstacles together in one place and being able to say “this is everything we have to overcome,” reduces the complexity of any situation enormously.

The role of others.

The other benefit of going through a thinking process like this, is that you can get other minds working with you. Others may have a better sense of particular obstacles, or their solutions because they’re closer to the issue than you are. You’re not responsible for doing it alone. Successful entrepreneurs are those who can link their talents and ambitions with others’ to create a desired outcome. Even the act of stating a clear goal and identifying the results of achieving it can be a solution to certain issues. As the leader of your company, it’s your ability to communicate a big, appealing future vision that will keep others engaged. When you have a vision and can relate it with clarity, confidence, and passion, investors will be able to get excited about what they’re investing in, and your team will want to step up to the plate, knowing what’s required of them and what they’re a part of. If you also show that you know what you have to overcome to realize that vision and that you already have strategies in place, you’ll generate tremendous confidence. Others will see that they’re part of the solution in a well thought-out plan. They’ll be able to see clearly what’s expected of them and what role they play in the bigger picture. This is the kind of team environment that most people want to work in — one where they see how their contribution makes a difference in achieving a big, worthwhile result.

Back to the beginning.

It’s easy to lose perspective when you’re under pressure. If you make a point of regularly reconnecting with your goals and your strategies, measuring progress, and learning from what worked and what didn’t along the way, you’ll insulate yourself against panic and find yourself responding to challenges with creativity. There was a quality of excitement at the beginning of your entrepreneurial career, and it’s always possible to recapture that — if you’re playing the right game. When the game becomes about small things, it gets bothersome and less interesting. The trick is to remind yourself what game you’re really playing, why, and what position you play best. The energy this releases, and the space it creates for others, will allow you to move beyond your current circumstances and on to a bigger future. A helpful tool for defining goals and creating strategies to reach them is The Strategic Coach’s Strategy Circle Software.