By Kenny Markwardt, Certified Two-Brain Business Mentor
Have you ever spent an entire Sunday cleaning your house?
At the end of the day, everything is organized and labeled, the laundry is all done, and your house actually resembles a place you’d invite the public into.
You vow to never let it go backwards. You might even hold a family meeting to say, “That can never happen again. Here’s where all your stuff goes, and that’s where it shall live forever. No excuses.”
Less than a week later, you’re embarrassed and angry because all the work was quickly undone.
In case you didn’t know, that’s the reality for all of us.
And business ownership is no different.
Three Steps to Reduce Backsliding
If you’ve gone through our RampUp program or dedicated yourself to working on your business for any period of time, you’ve done a substantial amount of “house cleaning.”
It’s a lot of work, but after you’re finished you think to yourself, “This is fantastic! I’ll never go back to frantically running the gym like a house on fire!”
Sure enough, you’ve slid backward just six months later. Old habits are hard to break.
Those three-month contracts never got renewed. Coach evaluation meetings were amazing in the first and second rounds, but you never scheduled a third. Goal reviews were a huge hit, but this quarter you’ve only done three. People are abusing your kind-hearted nature with regard to your cancellation policy. You might have even given someone a discount. Oh my!
I’m here to tell you this is normal. We’re all guilty of backsliding—and it’s only a failure if you don’t address it. So here’s what to do:
1. Tell your mentor you’ve slid back. Don’t be embarrassed: We know that it happens. In fact, it happens to us, too! It’s easy to think everyone else is running perfect gyms and you’re the only one with skeletons in the closet. This couldn’t be further from the truth. So just be open with your mentor. Send an email right now and say, “Hey, I’ve slid backward a bit with X. I need help getting back on track.” Your mentor will be happy to provide a plan.
2. Go through your Growth ToolKit Milestones, starting from the very beginning—yes, again! Most of us did the things we were supposed to do when they were assigned—but then we forgot about them. By going through every single milestone you’ve passed, you’ll find all the important things that have been neglected or were never done in the first place. Again, don’t be embarrassed: This is normal and to be expected.
3. Build in systems to prevent you from messing up in the future. Most of us went through RampUp and implemented things that were supposed to be done quarterly—goal reviews, staff evaluations, Career Growth ToolKit sessions, etc. But if you’re like most people, those things eventually faded away. This usually happens because an owner said the tasks were going to be done quarterly but never scheduled the subsequent tasks.
Put your tasks on the calendar! Book ahead, even if three months seems like an eternity. With the task on the schedule, you’ll have built-in accountability. And if your schedule changes over time, the task will still be there as a reminder, and you can reschedule or even delegate. Put important tasks in your planner, and when the time comes, make sure they’re done! Follow this plan with everything—but especially with things you have a hard time remembering to do.
Stop Sliding and Push Forward
You’re always going to have periods of greatness in terms of progress. You’re also always going to have times when you slide backward. By taking the steps above, you’ll slide backward a little less each time.
And a few years from now, you’ll be much, much further ahead.
