Failure to Launch

In the last few months, when I have asked business owners and sales professionals what they believe are the reasons that they are not getting the results that they want, I get similar answers. They have told me it’s the economy, lack of knowledge,  not enough cash flow, and that their target market is not spending money, just to name a few. While there is an element of truth in all of these answers, I do not believe it’s the root cause in most cases.

Over the last 10 years, as a business coach, I have found that the phenomenon that I call Failure to Launch is the most common symptom for not achieving extraordinary results. The reason I call Failure to Launch a symptom is that it is. The root cause for Failure to Launch in my experience is always based on a belief. Because beliefs are very personal, the underlying block can be almost anything, but usually connected to a fear.

I have had to deal with this symptom many times in my own business and sales career. One way to know if you are currently dealing with a Failure to Launch episode is to look at your intentions over the last 30 days. Do you have a project or an idea that you wanted to develop and release to your marketplace? Have you felt like you’re getting ready to get ready? Are you doing a ready- aim- aim- ready- ready- aim- aim, but never fire cycle? If this sounds familiar to you, then odds are you are caught in a Failure to Launch cycle.

So, how do we break the Failure to Launch cycle? The answer is – deliberately take action! I want to give you three steps that will enable you to get unstuck from Failure to Launch.

1. Become crystal clear about what you want to do. Confusion and uncertainty are two major contributors that create fear. Fear is normal when you do anything new, but when you focus on the fear, you’ll start to create stories that many times will  immobilize you.
2. Create a plan of action. Be specific in the activities you are committing to do. This step will not eliminate the feeling of fear, but by focusing on where you want to go instead of focusing on where your fears says it might go, you’ll be able to start your momentum.
3. Launch and adjust. There is nothing magic about this step. Frankly, it’s about putting one foot in front of the other. As you implement, you will find out what is working and duplicate those efforts and eliminate those activities that don’t give you the results you desire. The key to step number three is the work that you did in step number one. If you’re not crystal clear about specifics results you want, you will lose the predictability from your efforts.

My encouragement to you is to trust yourself and launch. By paying attention to your results you will know what adjustments need to be made to receive your “On Purpose Results”.  Remember my definition of courage is not the absence of fear, but rather action in the presence of fear!