Are You Tolerating Where You Are in Business Right Now?

I’m no parenting expert, although in a few months I’ll begin the process, but good parenting comes down to having a strategy to raise your children.

Picture this common situation for a parent. Your child is screaming for a lolly in a grocery store and as a parent to keep the peace (and save embarrassment) you give in. Your child gets the lolly and you show you’re prepared to tolerate that behaviour. Next time the child knows what to do to get what they want.

To be clear, I’m not judging parents who do this – it’s a difficult scenario. I’m simply emphasizing how a pattern can turn into a habit. In business, it’s something you must be mindful of.

When coaching my clients, I like to drill into them that what they’re prepared to tolerate becomes the norm in which they operate.

This statement is true right across your organisation from how you allow your staff to behave, to culture and how you’re viewed externally.

If you started your business with the aim of generating $30,000 in profit per month and you’ve done it but haven’t looked to grow further, then you’re tolerating that behaviour. To be fair, you may want to stay at this level. That’s a decision for you.

If you do want to extend beyond your expectations you need a growth mindset and that can’t happen if you accept where you are.

The most successful people often don’t look at themselves as a ‘success’ because their mind has moved on to what they want to achieve next, once they’ve surpassed the mark previously set.

For these people, tolerance levels change. Through evolving, they never actually arrive at their destination because it always changes to something more as their plans build and develop.

Most would be happy with the success of Zip2 but Elon Musk wasn’t. He wasn’t prepared to tolerate his circumstance instead he pushed the boundaries further by creating PayPal and Tesla. He’s now hellbent on getting off the earth with SpaceX.

The reality is you don’t have to be like Musk, which seems to be taking a toll on him but learn the lesson from what he’s doing. He’s never allowed himself to stagnate and feel comfortable because he doesn’t want to tolerate what he’s previously done.

For Musk and any other successful entrepreneur, their mission and purpose have not yet been completed. In this regard, we can all learn from Musk. As humans are wired for pushing through boundaries and situations. Once you stop trying to smash through, you’re done and you should give up. In business that means you either sell or get depressed because your life’s work has been achieved. You’ve tolerated your situation and that comes with restrictions.

It’s simple. You cannot expect to make $300k per month if you’re content with the $30,000 you currently make. You get results because you’ve set them and are expecting to achieve what you set and under no circumstances will you allow anything less to hinder your mission.

To be honest, there’s no quick fix to this. You can’t just devise a number in your head and think you’ll hit it every month or year. Like everything in business, particularly in the beginning, it will be up and down. Trust me, you’ll miss your goals sometimes, but with the right environment, focus and direction you can get there.

A genuine desire for more and an unwillingness to tolerate what’s been achieved is the mark of a truly great entrepreneur.

The ball is firmly in your court, nobody can make you want to achieve more. If you’re happy tolerating what you’ve got, good for you. You’ve worked hard for it and you deserve to be content, but here’s my question too.

Are you truly happy tolerating where you’re at or are you capable of more?

If you want more, we need to talk.