As I’ve been ramping up projects in the new year, I’ve been looking for ways to improve my productivity. And I have a few secrets that I’ve kept tucked away in my back pocket for just this kind of moment!

Many years ago, I listened to an interview with Brian Tracy, who, I think we can all agree, is a mega-successful human being. This past week, I  looked back over my notes from that interview and the concepts are just as relevant today as they were back then.

I’ve turned the thoughts Brian shared back in that old interview into five questions to ask yourself- and once you answer these questions, you’ll be able to dramatically improve your productivity (and simplify your life, too!)

Question #1: Are You Ready to Make A Decision?
Let’s face it- if you make a decision, whatever it is- that you’re going to be successful, bring in more clients, learn a new skill- then the first step to making it happen is to make the decision.

The word “decide” comes from Latin for “to cut off,” and that’s what you have to do when you make a decision: you cut off all other possibilities. If you decide to be successful, you have to decide to cut off the possibility of not being successful- more than that, you have to cut off the possibility of being anything but successful.

So, the first question is, “Are you ready to make a decision?” The decision can be about anything you want, however small. But the secret is to make a decision. It all starts there.

Once you’ve made your decision, you’ll want to take a pause for a little strategy:
Make a list of everything you do in the course of a week or a month. If you look at that list carefully, you’ll find that there are three things on that list that are responsible for 90% of the income you create. If you could do only three activities from that list, which three would contribute the most value?

Sometimes the three things on your list that generate the most value won’t be things you enjoy doing. But you really can simplify your life greatly by doing more and more of the three things that bring you the most income- and over time you’ll get better and better at these things and you won’t dislike them so much. Also, remember that often the things we like doing the least are things that bring anxiety, fear or stress. Do more of those, and the anxiety will decrease (tune in next week when I’ll talk about courage in business). So now that you know the strategy to find out what things bring you the most value, let’s get back to the five questions.

Question #2: What should I do more of?
What things count the most? This is where the three most valuable things from your list come into play. What are the three things you should spend more time on? Once you know the answer to that, it’s not hard to start culling your schedule and your “to do” list down to the most essential and profitable elements.

Question #3: What should I do less of?
What things aren’t productive? When you look at the list you made, this is the time to ask yourself which things on your list are things that you don’t have to do- what can you delegate or outsource or just minimize?

Question #4: What should I do that I’m not doing now? 
Now is the time to ask yourself what you’re not doing that you should be doing. Should I go to this conference? Read this book? Should I listen to this audio program? There are so many things you can do to improve and increase your business and we forget a lot of them. This includes things like continuing education, expanding your range of knowledge, and connecting and networking with other business owners. What else could you do that you’re not doing?

Question #5: What should I stop doing altogether?
This was the biggest one for me, because I am the queen of distraction. And working from home, I can be distracted by music, television, a phone call from a friend inviting me to lunch when I should be working, errands, laundry, you name it. However, it’s good to remind yourself that every minute you spend during the day not working on your business is a minute you’ve lost money. I encounter entrepreneurs every day who forget that equation. But keeping that concept firmly in mind makes a huge difference, and when you start to shift your thinking in this direction, you’ll see how much more productive you really are.

All strategic planning starts with abandonment. If you’re anything like me, right now your dance card is full. You can’t do something new without stopping something old. You can really only get your time under control by stopping something that doesn’t count toward your goals in order to start something that really makes the difference. And remember that when you weed out something old and ineffective, you create a vacuum to let a new opportunity come into your life.

This past week in LA, I hobnobbed with some of the most successful people in music at the major industry event of the year (okay, well, more like I saw most of them, but I did meet David Meerman Scott!) . Having talked over the years with mega-successful entrepreneurs about what success really means, I decided to share some of their success tactics with you.

Mega-Success Tactic #1: Define Success For Yourself.

Consider this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“To laugh often, to win the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

Think about it- what is your definition of success? Is it freedom, financial independence and wealth, international travel, a happy, healthy family, physical health, doing good for others in the world…what does it mean to you to be successful?

This one can get a little tricky- sometimes we want things because we get the idea we’re “supposed” to want them. As my friend Dixie says, “Do you want what you want or only what you WANT to want?”

For example, when I do the Lifestyle & Business Planning Analysis with clients, one of the areas of the questionnaire focuses on what material things you want. I see a lot of answers- cars, boats, vacation villas in Tuscany. And I think we’ve been trained to believe that’s what success is. We see wealthy people on TV with their conspicuous spending and outrageous purchases and think that’s what we’re supposed to want.

But when it really comes down to it, when you soul search and go deep, when you close your eyes and take a deep breath and envision your perfect life, what do you want?

Once you know what you really want, it’s easy to implement the remaining four tactics:

Mega-Success Tactic #2. State your goals in positive terms.

If you believe in the Law of Attraction, you’ve already heard this message. But even if you haven’t or if the Law of Attraction isn’t your “thing,” your brain receives messages in the same way the universe does. If your brain hears, “Avoid creating problems with clients,” what it actually hears is “create problems with clients.” The brain also hears a negative word, “avoid.” This creates a negative state of mind that follows you around. If, instead, your brain hears, “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” it hears a positive and clear message and knows exactly what to do. This kind of positive message breeds a positive, upbeat state of mind that follows you around. (And thank you to Kat, one of my Facebook pals who recently reminded me gently of this tactic when I said my mantra was “I’m not getting sick!”)

Remember, too, that your brain needs clear messages. “Avoid creating problems with clients” tells you what not to do, but it doesn’t say what you should do. There are lots of possibilities that aren’t “creating problems with clients,” but which is the alternative that you want?

Mega-Success Tactic #3. Define your goals in measurable, time-sensitive terms.
Once you’ve stated your goals in positive terms, you need to come up with a way to determine if you’ve achieved your goals. How do you know you’ve achieved your goal? By when do you want to achieve it?

Using the previously mentioned goal, you can change “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” to “Create and maintain a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients, as evidenced by quarterly customer satisfaction surveys.” Here you’ve created a measure of your success in the customer satisfaction surveys and you’ve said that you will initially create and then maintain your goal, which shows you what you need to see in those surveys- an increase and gradual leveling out in positive ratings. You’ve also made it time-sensitive by stating that the surveys are to be done quarterly.

Setting measurements and timing for your goals keeps your goals clear and attainable instead of wishy-washy and vague.

Mega-Success Tactic #4. Plan ahead.
Sometimes business owners experience what I like to call “post-success laziness.” You have a goal, you achieve your goal, and then you take a break, resting on your laurels and, yeah, let’s face it, you get a little lazy. This happens when you don’t plan ahead and set your next goal before you achieve the first one.

Creating a roadmap of goals does a couple of things. First, in creating a series of goals, you assume you will achieve the closest goal and the next one and so on, and that’s just smart, positive thinking. Second, you avoid the post-success laziness because you’re already working toward the next goal before you achieve the first. You do want to take time to celebrate achievements, but don’t let yourself get so bogged down in the celebration that you forget to keep moving forward.

Mega-Success Tactic #5. Follow through!
The single most important tactic to achieving success is the ability to follow through. If you create goals and then don’t set up systems and structures to follow through on your goals, you’re not a mover or a shaker- you’re a dreamer.

Don’t get me wrong- there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. Being a dreamer is a wonderful, important thing, actually. Dreamers can be extremely successful people, but not without follow-through. So find ways to follow through on your dreams- and if you need help, find it! If there are things you don’t know how to do, learn how to do them or delegate them. If you struggle with time management and accountability, hire a coach. Because once you figure out where you’re going, all you have to do is figure out how to get there and follow through.

So, start by  deciding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, and then build a plan to follow through. With this plan, you’ll find success on your own terms.

Getting organized. It’s something most of us struggle with. But it’s also something that’s paramount to achieving the next level of success in your business. As a disorganized business owner, you’re likely to be late paying bills, forgetful of client details and projects, and overwhelmed with time pressures. You’ll waste time looking for documents and you’ll waste money in late fees charged for paying bills after the due date. And don’t get me started on how well your brain can function in a cluttery space. How do I know all of this?

Hi. I’m Susan, and I used to be very disorganized.

That’s right, I’m not perfect. Now, don’t get me wrong — today I’m surprisingly organized, but in my time, I’ve paid my share of late fees and lost my share of paperwork.

Luckily, two things happened that helped me get my “clutter bug” in gear. First, I started my efforts a few years ago when I hired a professional organizer to come in and help me overhaul my home, and it really paid off. She taught me a ton about organizing and that made it easier to maintain (and reinvigorate when I fell off the wagon).

Second, last summer, as my business went green, in an effort to minimize even more paper than I already had, I organized my computer files and my e-mail accounts so that locating any document was simple and easy. I can’t even begin to tell you just how many hours it saved me to have my computer files and e-mails organized well.

In fact, I recently discovered just how much time it saved me when I made the switch back from PC to Mac, and left my e-mail files behind on the other computer…suddenly, instead of having everything at my fingertips, when I need an older e-mail, I have to run back to the old computer to get it. This has really shown me just how well-organized I’ve become!

As we become more and more digital and less reliant on paper, you’ll want to factor in organizing your computer files, too!

Here are some quick strategies you can use to get organized in an afternoon:

1) Check out Julie Morgenstern’s book, Organizing from the Inside Out.

Order it from Barnes & Noble or Amazon or borrow it from the library. This book is the definitive guide to organizing these days and has tons of amazing recommendations, suggestions, and strategies for organizing your home, your business, and your life. I’ve implemented many of Julie’s strategies myself over the years.

2) Organize your computer.
With over 20 years’ worth of e-mail floating around different accounts and files from over seventeen different computers over the years, a few years ago, I realized I needed to organized more than just my paper files- I needed to organized my computer files, too.

These days, I keep a running “Stuff I’m Doing” list on my desktop. On my hard drive, I have folders for various kinds of media (photos, videos, etc.), a folder for business files and a folder for personal files- that’s it.

Within the business folder, I have one folder for each of our businesses, and within each individual business folder, I have administrative folders, folders for web files, folders for client files, and other important business documents. Many of my business files are also housed in a GoogleDocs account, so that my assistant has access to files she needs to send clients.

In my business e-mail account, I have folders for the appropriate business, a folder for each client (which cuts down on searching for specific e-mails), a folder for affiliates, partners, bills (for later accounting purposes), invoices, etc. My personal e-mail accounts are similarly organized, so that each family member has a folder, confirmation e-mails for online orders go in another folder, etc.

I keep my Inbox fairly empty- anything left in the inbox is something that I need to take action on within the new 24-48 hours. There are currently seven messages in my Inbox. By tomorrow morning, however, it’s likely that a couple hundred more e-mails will arrive. Luckily, I have filters to manage most of those e-mails. The filters send the majority of my e-mails into the appropriate folders for me (if only I had a paper fairy who could do the same!), plus my assistant will handle quite a few of them, so by the time I get to my inbox, I’ll only have to manage around 30-40 e-mails tomorrow morning.

3) Conduct an official purge.
The best thing you can do is simplify, and that means getting rid of stuff! Leo and I are usually in the midst of some kind of household purge or another. We’re always trying to pare down and have a standing account at our local auction house. Our local Goodwill practically knows our name by now.

When it comes to the office, it’s just like the rest of our home- I have three different bins: trash, recycling, and shredding. But I don’t waste time shredding my own stuff. In the long run, I find that it costs me less time and money to have a local shredding company to do my shredding for me. Once we have a bunch of bags, we call the big shredding truck to come to the house and shred it all. it’s tons of fun to watch the big jaws of the truck eating your old papers and stuff, and if you’re really nice to the shredders, they’ll let you push the big red SHRED button. If you want to know how long to keep financial documents, check this handy reference.

4) Create a plan for future clutter.
Julie Morgenstern says that the reason clutter accumulates is that we don’t have systems and strategies for managing the stuff that becomes clutter.

In my house, 95% of the clutter used to come from the mail. I did pretty well bringing the mail in and tossing unwanted catalogs and junk mail into the recycle bin, but there were always a few things that fell into the “I need to do something with this” category, and that’s what ended up in the cluttery piles.

So I created a system so that now I have a place to put things that need to go up to the office to be filed, and a place to put catalogs to be looked through while I’m on the treadmill, etc. Your goal is to think about where and when you want to take action on your clutter items and then put them where they need to be.

5) Know when you need help.
Sometimes, the job is just too big for you to handle on your own. For me, it was moving from a two-bedroom apartment into a five-bedroom house and consolidating my belongings with the things my mom left me when she passed away. Going through all of that stuff was emotionally difficult and physically draining.

But with the help of my professional organizer, I was able to let go of things that wouldn’t serve me and make the best use of things that I loved. Sometimes it’s just better to have someone in the trenches with you, helping you when you get stuck, making things manageable so you don’t get overwhelmed, and keeping you accountable for making progress. My organizer liked to give me “homework” to do in between her visits so I maintained momentum, and it really worked!

My dad used to tell me, “A cluttery space makes for a cluttery mind.” I’ve discovered that the tidier my workspace (including my digital workspace), the clearer my thoughts and the easier it is for me to work. Being cluttery and disorganized is a challenge to conquer, but once you’re organized, you’ll free up the massive amount of time you spend looking for documents and trying to get your head together. Do that and you’ll have a lot more time to spend on revenue-generating activities in the coming year, and you’ll find yourself feeling much more at peace in your new, organized spaces.

One month after purchasing my mega-laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad T420s that, once it arrived, had delighted, amazed, and amused me, it died. It was a sudden death, apparently caused by a fried motherboard, which is apparently a known issue with this machine (note to self: search for “known issues” next time).

These days, when you call technical support, you never really know what to expect. Will my problem be solved or will I walk away frustrated and confused? You never really know.

And indeed, today, I was left frustrated and confused when I learned that a) the motherboard on my brand-new, 29-day-old laptop had died, b) there were no motherboards in stock, c) there was no estimated arrival time for the motherboards, and d) any further assistance had to be found in a completely different department, which wouldn’t even have my case information until “at least” tomorrow.

So of course, I called that other department anyway, because I don’t believe in accepting “no” as an answer. And the kind of support I received at that department was quite different from what I expected.

The shipping/receiving customer support guy, Larry, patiently explained the entire process to me. Because I paid for priority, on-site technical support (for exactly this reason), I’m at the top of the list for the first motherboard they find. They might find it today, in which case, the tech will come tomorrow and fix my computer. Or maybe they won’t find a motherboard in all of North America, and I’ll have to wait until after the first of the year.

Larry’s probably the best customer support guy I’ve ever talked to, actually. He was unquestionably the most patient, and answered every “what if” question I had with one of the kindest, most soothing voices I’ve ever heard.

When I’d exhausted my list of questions, and finally sighed and said, “Larry, I’m just frustrated. I have work to do,” Larry said, “I know. I’m really sorry there’s not more that I can do. But the motherboard will arrive soon. Maybe there’s a reason this happened. Maybe you needed to take today off and clear your head.”

If anybody else had said that to me, I might’ve found it kind of presumptuous and a little offensive. But from Larry, with his calming voice, I found it pleasant and actually felt supported by customer support. And I have to admit that when I came into the office to work this morning, I felt reluctant.

It’s snowing for the first time this season and my family is downstairs, snuggled up on the sofa with the Christmas tree lit and a fire blazing. There’s talk of a snowball fight later. Truth is, I wanted to be with them today, but I have client meetings coming and prep work to do, plus a whole lot of writing to catch up on, so the pressure made me tear myself away from my family to get some work done.

But you know what? Maybe Larry’s right. Maybe I do need to take some more time off and clear my head. Would the start of the new year be easier if I had all my files and could spend a few morning hours working this week? Maybe. But for now, I can reschedule client meetings and the writing will be there when I have the laptop back.

So today, as I write this and can hear my husband and stepdaughter giggling in the snow outside, I choose to see things as Larry suggested. Maybe there is a reason my laptop isn’t working today. I’m going to go find out.

Recently, Leo and I discovered a Japanese game show called “Ninja Warrior.” In this show, athletes from around the world (but primarily Japan) test their skill and strength at a seemingly unbeatable obstacle course, in the hopes of becoming a champion worthy of the title, “Ninja Warrior.” The other day, as Leo and I watched yet one more round of warrior athletes performing what seemed like impossible stunts, I reflected on the business and life lessons one might take away from this extraordinary show.

Do something you think you can’t.
Ninja Warrior tests are incredibly challenging and often seem impossible. But the competitors are rarely daunted. They always try whatever seems impossible…and even if they can’t defeat the obstacle course, they almost always go home and train for a full six months before returning for the next Ninja Warrior competition and conquering the obstacle that tripped them up last time. Likewise, if you see a challenge and think you can’t do it, try it anyway. Then, if you don’t succeed, train harder until you can do it.

Always compete against yourself, not against others.
One of the characteristics that drew us to Ninja Warrior in the first place was that it’s not a competition where participants compete against each other. It’s every man (or woman) against the obstacle course. So rather than worrying about what anyone else is doing, each competitor is focused on doing his or her best. Similarly, in business, we’re often focused on the “old school” concept of watching the competition and worrying about what they’re up to. Instead, focus on you and what you can do to improve and grow, and cheer on your peers. Their success has little to nothing to do with you.

If you fail, keep trying.
There’s a group of Ninja Warrior “All Stars” who have participated in many of the Ninja Warrior competitions. If you watched the show from the beginning (as we have) you’d see these competitors go from young upstarts to family men with successful careers. And they just keep coming back to try to conquer the Ninja Warrior obstacle course again and again and again, hoping to succeed where they have failed before (of course, a couple of these All Stars have actually completed the course, but they continue to return to try to conquer the course as it has evolved). In business, if you don’t succeed at something, that doesn’t mean you should give up. In a recent The Experts Series interview with a bestselling author, I learned that this author’s book was rejected two hundred times before he got his book deal that shot him into bestselling status. If you fail, go back and try again and again and again.

Never give up in the middle.
Something that keeps us in awe of this show is that none of the competitors ever gives up. Even if a competitor knows the clock is running out and he may not complete the course, he never stops giving his full effort- not until that last second when the buzzer sounds. Likewise, in business, give it everything you’ve got until that buzzer sounds- until you know for sure that what you’re doing isn’t going to work.

Always be gracious and find the fun.
Leo and I are constantly impressed with the graciousness of the Ninja Warrior athletes. They cheer each other on, seem genuinely sorry when their comrades fail, and vitually all of the contestants maintain a friendly, lighthearted spirit and focus on the fun of the game. Your business may seem very serious to you, but if you’re too serious or too desperate to succeed, your attitude might be standing in the way of your success. Instead, try to look for the fun in what you’re doing and be as gracious as you can- to your clients, to your competitors, to everyone you encounter.

“Ninja Warrior” isn’t business- it’s a game. But it’s a game with some really powerful lessons that can be applied to business. Ultimately, what Ninja Warrior teaches us is to be as strong as you can, test your limits, never give up, and remember to find the fun in everything you do.

Last December, I said goodbye to an old friend: the old Indiana tulip tree that’s been in my back yard longer than I’ve been alive. Since my husband and I remodeled and now live in the home where I grew up, this tree has has been a constant in the landscape of my life through the years. Sadly, about two years ago, we realized the tree was slowly dying. I waited as long as I could, until I realized that keeping the tree put the house in danger, and finally decided it was time to let go.

(So what does this tree have to do with your business? Well, you know by now that I can find business inspiration in anything from my travels to my chicken coop, so follow along with me and you’ll see where I’m going with this.)

As I watched the crew cut down my tree, I thought about all the things the tree had meant to me over the years. It provided the branch my dad hung my rope swing on, and offered shade in the hot Midwestern summers. It was large enough to provide just enough privacy from the street, while also keeping things open enough for a friendly wave to a neighbor walking by.

The tree had its drawbacks, too, I have to confess. As big as it was, there were a million leaves to rake every fall, but this year, all those leaves provided us with an absolutely wonderful, warm afternoon with our friends, talking and laughing as we raked and hauled leaves to the compost pile. There were the carpenter ants, who made their home in, around, and everywhere near the tree, plus the aphids who lived it the tree, dropping black residue on virtually everything underneath. And in recent years, there was the fear. As the tree was dying, it had a tendency to drop branches here and there, unexpectedly. I constantly worried that someone would get hurt or we’d have a big storm and the tree would fall onto my house (look at the picture and you can see just how serious a threat that was!).

My tree, with all the beautiful, sentimental memories attached to it, also came with some encumbrances, things that made it harder for us to enjoy our home and our life with the serenity you want to feel at home. Watching the tree come down, suddenly I realized  that as hard as it was to say goodbye to the tree, letting go of the tree meant I would have peace of mind and a calmness about many things, plus we were making space for something new. That space can be the home for a new flower or vegetable bed…(“Or, the place for my new pool!” says my hubby, who just popped his head in the office to see if I want a cup of tea)

Any time is a good time to look at your business (and your life) and ask what you’re holding onto that might be holding you back. For myself, as I examined my business, there were a few things holding me back that I’ve decided to let go of as I head into the future. Maybe you’ll discover it’s a product or a service that you’re offering that’s limiting you. It’s more likely, though, that it’s a mindset, an attitude, or a limiting belief that’s getting in your way.

Just as the aphids who lived in my tree dropped black stuff all over everything under the tree, limiting beliefs and a negative mindset will drop junk all over your business and your life. Just  as my tree created too much shade in some parts of my garden making it hard to get much to grow there, you may have too much “mental shade” in areas of your business, so you’re unable to see ways in which you could grow. And just as my big, beautiful tree threatened to fall over onto my house, you may have created some business structures that threaten to fall apart and damage your business.

Take a careful, close, and most importantly, honest look at your life and your business. What’s holding you back? What’s getting in the way of you moving forward? When you find the things that are keeping you from achieving your goals, take some time to appreciate what they’ve brought to your life and what those things have done for you, and then let them go.

And remember, letting go doesn’t always mean a complete severing of ties. It often means analyzing something closely enough that you can keep what is working, and throw out the rest. In my business, it meant keeping certain program elements and bringing them into my new programs, while leaving other elements behind. And for my tree, it meant having the crew chop my tree into firewood that will last us for the next several winters and leaving a full slice of the trunk for my hubby and me to make into a table in the spring.

One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple of days since the tree came down is that when I look up, where there was once a lot of branches and leaves obstructing the view, now there’s just clear, blue sky, filled with possibility. Let go of whatever isn’t serving you in your business and in your life, so that you can head into the future with lightness and serenity, with all the possibility of moving forward into real success.

My latest post on LifeHack.org, published March 19, 2009:

Maybe you’ve been trying to kick-start your business and it just hasn’t worked yet. Maybe you’ve just started but you’re already frustrated. Or maybe you’ve wanted to hit that next level for years and haven’t been able to get there. Regardless of your situation, getting motivated and on-track isn’t difficult. It’s staying that way that’s the trick. And when you’re struggling to “make it,” sometimes it’s even harder. You find yourself wandering, letting yourself get distracted, and wondering if you’ll ever really make your mark. Want to end the cycle of struggle? Master these tips and you’ll be virtually unstoppable.

First, know that this is a temporary state. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been where you are. All that you need to know is that nothing is permanent. All things change, even if it seems that they don’t. It’s simply a law of nature — nothing stays the same forever. The universe is constantly moving, evolving, and changing, and so are you. So instead of seeing this as a neverending path into darkness, know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and every day, it’s getting closer. And as soon as you get a new client, sell your first product, or hit that next target, everything within you will shift.

Second, remind yourself what you’re fighting for. When you’ve been trying to make something happen for awhile, you can start to lose sight of the end goal. Instead of focusing on the reason you started this journey in the first place, you begin to focus on smaller, more immediate outcomes. For example, if you started your business so you could eventually free up enough time to spend with your family, but you’ve been working for a long time and haven’t seen the results you’d expected or hoped for, your goal may have shifted from “be with my family” to “make my business work.” This has exactly the opposite effect than you originally intended. By shifting your priorities, now you’re probably spending less time with your family.

Sometimes it’s helpful to create tangible reminders of the reason you started down this path.  A vision board may be useful, or just a statement, penned boldly and tacked to a bulletin board near your workspace. If you want to remind yourself of a forgotten goal and reintegrate it into your thinking process and mindset, set your alarm a few minutes earlier each morning and spend that time meditating on what you’re working towards. Reaffirm what you’re fighting for and you’ll find the will to fight is restored and renewed once more.

Third, believe in yourself. It can be hard to believe in yourself when you’ve been trying to make something work for a long time. Sometimes you just lose faith in your own ability to make it work or see it through. One of the best ways to stay strong in your belief in yourself is to keep track of your successes, even the small ones. When you’re feeling down on yourself, go back to the list of successes and review them. Remind yourself that you are capable and you can make this work.

Another way to rebuild your confidence involves something social psychologists have known for decades — that our feelings about ourselves are frequently a reflection of how we think others perceive us. So take advantage of that! Read through your client testimonials and e-mails. Ask your clients for periodic evaluations and you’re bound to receive some fantastic feedback (and if there are some negatives, folks, that’s a great learning experience — it tells you exactly what you need to do to improve and make your clients happy). Even if your faith in yourself falters, others still believe in you.

Finally, get help before you’re in crisis. If your business isn’t where you want it to be, if you aren’t making the leaps ahead that you want to be making, there’s obviously something going on. Before things go too far, before you get lost and become totally unmotivated, get help!

The problem may be with your business — it could be a branding issue, a marketing issue, or maybe just you aren’t giving your clients what they want.  Hire a consultant who can turn your business inside out finding ways to improve your results. The problem may also lie within — you yourself might benefit from some “fine-tuning.” Hire a coach and work through any roadblocks that may be getting in the way of your success. Hire a mentor and model his/her behavior. Or if you’re struggling with self-discipline and need a budget solution, ask a reliable friend to be your accountability partner so you both can improve.

As you begin to master the ability to keep your motivation high, it will become easier to stay on-track. Moments of frustration will be fewer and farther between and, as you master your mindset, you’ll find that you actually achieve success and reach your targets faster.

If you’ve been following my blogs or e-zines, you know that I write many of my articles because of comments I’ve heard from my clients and subscribers. This one is no different. One thing I’ve been hearing a lot of lately is, “I want to start a business, but I just can’t afford it right now,” and “I want to invest in learning how to start a business, but I don’t have the money to put into it.” This is a legitimate, honest concern, and I want to talk to you about it. Because I get it.

I’ve been there. I had times when I was living paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, praying nothing would go wrong with the car or the furnace. And in a single day, I’ve received $3,000 in bills that I didn’t know how to pay. And I’ll never forget those moments of abject fear and panic, wondering where I’m going to find that money. I’ll never forget wanting to do things I didn’t think I could afford, needing to buy things and knowing I couldn’t.

So I want to talk with you about what I call “the scarcity conversation,” which is a term I picked up from a client, who once said to me, “I’m scared to death because I know in my heart that I should start this business, but I don’t know if I can spend the money to do what I need to do to make it succeed. I’m having a major scarcity conversation with myself.”

Okay, so what is a “scarcity conversation,” anyway? A scarcity conversation is the dialogue you have in your head (or sometimes with other people) and you hear any of these words cropping up with regularity: “I can’t afford….” “I don’t know how I’m going to pay….” “I wish I could ______, but I don’t have the money for that.”

Why is a scarcity conversation a problem? If you’ve read my blogs and e-zines, you know that I approach business in a way that’s different from most other startup experts. I have a hybrid approach that brings in all kinds of disciplines, including psychology and personal growth- because I know that mindset and not just what you’re thinking but how you’re thinking have a massive impact on the level of your success. So the first reason wny you want to get out of the scarcity conversation is because it constantly hammers away at the mindset you need to succeed. The scarcity conversation is all about fear. It’s about uncertainty. It’s about self-doubt. And you absolutely must get out of those thinking patterns to be able to make decisions as an entrepreneur, without doubting everything you do.

The second reason to move out of the scarcity conversation is also mindset-related. The “I can’t afford it” mentality locks you into a way of thinking that you’ll find extremely difficult to get out of, and that becomes a real issue in business. When you’re constantly thinking, “I can’t afford it,” as a business owner, you’ll start to apply that thinking to things that your business desperately needs. The “I can’t afford it” type of scarcity conversation has a way of growing and spreading so that it starts applying to anything, even things you need to grow your business. You won’t put your dollars in the right places if you have “I can’t afford it” floating around in your head.

Business in Blue Jeans would never have become the success it is today if I hadn’t gotten out of this mindset. I forced myself to stop thinking in terms of scarcity at a time when my business wasn’t growing and I needed help. It would have been the easiest time to let “I don’t have the money for that” become the scarcity conversation in my head, but I took another path. I thought, “What does my business need to grow and thrive?” and that’s when I hired the consultants and attended classes and seminars that made the difference. And all of that knowledge I gained got filtered into my own system to form the DENIMMS© Program, my unique, proven, 7-step training program to business startup and success. If I had said, “I can’t afford this,” I’d still be back where I was, when getting $3,000 in bills was panic-inducing.

The point I’m making is this: If you spend your life focusing on what you can’t afford, things won’t change. But if you change your focus, everything will change. If you focus on putting your money- investing it- where it can bring you back the most return, your life, your business, your mindset will transform.

Instead of having the scarcity conversation, have an investment conversation. And I don’t mean stocks and bonds. I mean a conversation about what you can invest in that will make the difference for you. It’s like that old adage, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” For you, that can be transitioned into “Find a consultant who can give you a fish, and you’ll invest in a nice fish dinner. Invest in a consultant who will show you how to fish, and you’ll be able to feed yourself for a lifetime.”  Figure out what classes, workshops and consultants will teach you how to fish- not just give you the fish for now- and invest in what they have to offer.You’ll be making a wise investment that will take you to a place where “I can’t afford it” will be a thing of the past.

Incidentally, that client I spoke of at the beginning of this article, the one who said, “I don’t know if I can spend the money to do what I need to do to make it succeed”? She went on to invest in her business. She invested in designing a  business that would work for the lifestyle she wanted, and got trained on how to create a unique brand with a clear target market, how to create and launch new products, how to let the world know she exists, and how to establish herself as an expert. And her business is thriving.  She no longer has the scarcity conversations because she knows when she invests her money in her business, it’s going to come back, multiplied.