Your Extreme Capital Shortfall
This is the fifth installment of a series on growing our decision-making muscles:
I. Big Money, The Long Game, or Feeling Human
II. Did You Make the Worst Choice?
III. The Trouble With Joe
IV. Jan, The Masterminder -- Or Is She?
V. Your Extreme Capital Shortfall
The most prevalent reason for small business failure is poor management – YOU.
We have all heard the statistics that the majority of new businesses fail within the first five years, but have you ever asked why? Statistically, it’s not that you don’t have a great idea, or the right market, or the right product. Those things may or may not be true. But the data shows that the most likely problem is that you’re working yourself to burnout and making bad decisions.
We have been discussing over the course of five weekly newsletters the seemingly relentless dilemma of choosing between competing priorities. I presented a typical scenario in Big Money, The Long Game, or Feeling Human, which demanded a choice between The Hustle with Joe, The Growth with Jan, or The Recharge with yourself. In Did You Make the Worst Choice, I illustrated how choosing multiple options is the worst choice that can be made, and what the majority of us are battling at this very moment. In The Trouble With Joe, I outlined some deep misgivings about pursuing The Hustle, and why it could erode our overall success, even if the questionable profits do actually materialize. Then in Jan, The Masterminder - Or is She? I explored the typical entrepreneurial mindset around how we can lose sight of prioritizing people over the deal. Now the most costly person in your business – YOU.
As a business owner, the most valuable asset in your life and your business is yourself. And if you are like the vast majority of business owners, you are overspending that capital every day, every week, every month, every year.
Like overspending from any other source, eventually you run out, maybe run a deficit, and then extremely negative consequences can occur if you keep going.
How confident can you be in your strategic decision-making if you’re chronically exhausted?
How quickly can you make important decisions when your mind is constantly spinning on overload?
How can your clients and stakeholders trust and believe that you will “show up” for them if you aren’t showing up for yourself?
Why would your employees want to do their best work for someone who is consistently moody from non-stop functioning in high-stress mode?
What impression are you making on your loved ones when you are almost never fully present with them?
As a Certified Business Coach and serial entrepreneur, what I hear very often is, “Yeah, but I can handle it. I can do it. I’m tough. I persevere. My family understands.” This is flat wrong. Like the Sun revolves around the Earth wrong.
If you work 70 hours a week, you accomplish the same work as if you worked 50.
Output per hour declines significantly after about four to five hours of concentrated mental work.
After roughly eight weeks of 60-hour work weeks, total output is no higher than if the person had worked 40-hour weeks.
I hate to tell you this, but you’re not special. You have the same human brain and biological functions as all the rest of us. You have the same need to rest, exercise, sleep, etc. as all the rest of us.
If I told you that you can purchase XYZ investment for $400,000, live five years longer and take a three more vacations, or you can purchase the exact same investment for $600,000 with the exact same returns (flat amount, not percentage), shorten your life by five years, and take three fewer vacations, what would you choose? No, I am not being dramatic. The data really is that clear and obvious.
I’d like to remind you that your “Capital of Self” is a term I use to encompass your time, your energy, your cognitive load, and your well-being into one singular concept. It is the most valuable capital your business will ever have, and if you want to succeed, you have to manage it accordingly.
https://thegeniuscultivator.com/post/your-extreme-capital-shortfall
