This winter in the world of retail & wholesale has been one of the more challenging of the last few years.
Increased interest rates, high cost of living, awful weather patterns and recovery from some of the worst weather events NZ has experienced in years.
Not to mention coming off the back of the last three years of bizarre trade (peaking & bombing depending on industry) post covid has really tested for everyone in business - retail & wholesale is no exception!
It is so important to protect ourselves, our energy/stamina so that we can keep pushing through with resilience until the more financially productive seasons.
Time and time again through challenging times in business I revert to using an amazing tool that helps keep momentum in in your business & life and I am going to share it with you....
Micro Planning / Weekly Habits
My micro planning/weekly habits idea is simple, bite size, and just what you need to keep things moving in the right direction.
Remember - when life gets topsy turvy for whatever reason (sickness, school holidays, low sales, too much volume/not enough and anything else that throws a spanner in the works) and you own a business, keeping your head & your business in the right place is sometimes as simple as focusing on the basics, these are the small habits that will keep moving the needle.
Small bite size habits that you can begin to achieve, even when all other routines are out the window are an amazing way to get a dopamine/success hit and begin to rebuild your confidence and resilience
A fantastic simple quote that I have often reminded myself of is:
ACTION is the ANTIDOTE to ANXIETY
Go to Micro Planner/Habit Tracker and 'purchase' this FREE downloadable...
Tips & Thoughts
You can mix between business and personal or print and create separate habits for each.
Don't be tempted to add more than 5 habits - the idea is small bite sized, which create consistency and a feeling of success, this success will compound - trust me!
Whilst for the purpose of this, the focus isn't on your long term goal - you will often find that adding habits that contribute to long term goals will happen naturally as you get some momentum behind you.
Benefits - write a couple of key words of what a benefit of completing each habit is - it legitimises the habit and creates a success mindset
Excuses - REALLLLLLY important to highlight your excuses or objections to why you might not complete a habit.
Why? identifying these excuses and writing them down is a great way to pre-empt your objections and prevent them from bedding in and stopping you complete the habit for the day. (a great way to call BS on yourself!)
Focus words- Sometimes you just need to affirm, remind or encourage yourself and all it takes is one word to remind us ;-)
Some of my faves in the past have been
consistency * flexible * enjoy * creativity * support * relax
Finally, remember that while hard times feel intense, and often like they will never end -THEY WILL (eventually) and keeping your head and your habits (however small) focused and simple, will place you firmly in a position to crank up towards your longer term goals and plans.
Enjoy!
