Business Development: (re)gaining confidence in your ability to do it, and do it well
What do Business Development (BD), fitness, and recovery from a shoulder injury have in common? Business development coach Nicky Denegri explores the similarities.
Whether you’re recovering from an injury or working on your business development, it’s all about focusing on the process rather than the outcome, understanding that it takes time, and knowing that the results will come if you’re patient. Let me explain…
At the beginning of lockdown, like lots of people I took up – or took up again – hobbies, including fitness: weights-based training, yoga, and running.
After my initial enthusiasm started to wane, it was hard to get up and practise them each day, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve:
- I set myself goals for each day and week, and put the longer-term ones to the side; focusing on the here-and-now made it bearable
- I realised if I got them out of the way first thing, I’d feel the benefit across the day
- I could free up my time for other “easier” pursuits
Before long I realised that I was enjoying each of them as activities and that there were other benefits:
- It was getting easier to get up and get to it straight away
- The effort involved in doing each seemed somehow less
- I was feeling and thinking differently about myself and them
Not only was my relationship with myself better but with others too:
- I was more relaxed and so could focus better on other people, getting to know them, and finding out how they were coping with lockdown and the way we were all living
- I was able to encourage a few people in my immediate circle to take up healthy habits and we supported one another
- We swapped hints and tips on what was and wasn’t working for us, and how to adjust to suit
Most importantly I learned early on that getting fitter wasn’t always an upwards trajectory:
- Some days I was really tired and couldn’t do as much or as well as the previous day
- Others I needed to have a day off altogether
- Even so, I needed to get back to it after only a brief break
This stood me in good stead when, towards the end of last year, I injured my shoulder and had to adjust my approach. That’s still the case: recovery has been very slow, somewhat unsteady, and a possible operation looms. That’s all ok. Why?
- I know it won’t be this tough forever
- That when the recovery is complete, I’ll be stronger than ever
- That there are other things I can do to maintain a level of fitness that maybe isn’t as high as the one I want, but it’s better than nothing. In other words, I’ve development my optimism around it all.
The other thing I’ve learned is that I couldn’t solve the problem myself:
- I had to consult the experts!
- I had to do what they told me, and do it consistently
- I had to make the time for all of this, even when I thought I couldn’t afford to
I believe there are clear parallels between this recovery process and BD.
Our Kissing With Confidence training features not only the practical skills that you need to do it well, but also the attitude and mindset to do and keep doing it in the first place.
When we think about BD as something separate to our day jobs, we fall into a trap from which it’s hard to escape. It’s a part of it, it’s not an option, and we neglect it at our peril.
So too with fitness: in my experience, it pays dividends to manage my mindset and keep it up.
As Nike say “Just Do It”, or as we say at Kissing With Confidence “Just F******g* Do It” (*Flipping)! Go for it! You’ll surprise yourself by just how easy it can be. Enjoy!