Do you challenge yourself enough in your business? It’s easy to meander through your day and follow the same status quo. But, doing that doesn’t help to push the business forward.

Challenging yourself, either at work or in your personal life, helps you to grow and progress as a person. Nobody really knows what they’re capable of until they’re forced to rise to the occasion. Doing something that you didn’t think you could do is a powerful thing. It replenishes your self-belief. And, when you challenge yourself at work, you can take your business to new heights.

An issue that many entrepreneurs face is that they don’t have the time to challenge themselves. They’re working in the business and doing so many millennial tasks that they don’t have the time to focus on more challenging projects that will drive the business forward.

Given the fact that you’re the owner of the business, it’s up to you to focus on the important tasks while delegating the ones that eat up too much of your time.

Here’s the truth. If you feel like you haven’t reached your full potential, it’s probably because you’re standing in your own way. You’re not holding yourself accountable. And, as a result, opportunities for growth and development keep slipping through your fingers.

But, keep your chin up. Here are two simple tips that will help you to hold yourself accountable:

1. Set challenges for yourself

Challenges are great. When you set yourself a challenge with a clear end goal, it helps you to focus on progress. Sometimes, we need a wake-up call in our lives. Something that’ll make us see what we’ve been missing out on and what needs to change to achieve it.

Take me for example. I’ve never run a marathon in my life. But, I’ve decided that I’m going to run a marathon this year. Sure, it’s going to be hard. I’ll have to train several days a week and make some changes to my personal life to make it happen. But because I’ve set this challenge for myself, I’m motivated to do it. I’ve also done things to hold myself accountable to achieve this goal.

For one thing, I announced the news on ep.99 of Mi-TV. And, as you know, once you put something out on the internet, there’s no taking it back. I’m also writing about it now, which is another way that I’m holding myself accountable.

Challenging yourself is another form of disciplining yourself. Now that you have a set goal in mind, you can’t put it off. So, if you want to challenge yourself to grow your business or have enough free time in the day to take an uninterrupted coffee break, you’ve got to work to make that happen.

Remember, you don’t have to be responsible for every little thing in your business. Don’t be afraid to delegate smaller tasks to other team members or a third-party company. There may be some things in your business that only you can do. And, that’s fine. But there’s also plenty of things that you’re doing that you really shouldn’t be. When you delegate, you leave room for personal and professional growth.

2. Is your salary worth it to the business?

Holding yourself accountable is difficult if you don’t have the right mindset. My suggestion is to ask yourself every day if your salary is worth it to the business. This is a great way to think about how you’re spending your time.

As an entrepreneur, you obviously pay yourself, and you can decide how much that number is. But, try and imagine what it would be like if you had a boss. Would your boss think your salary is a good use of company money?

Is what you did today worth your salary? Or, did you spend most of the day answering emails, doing the bookkeeping and getting stuck on inbound calls for an hour or two? Did you waste valuable time doing things that you probably should have delegated to someone else?

You’re the business owner. Therefore, most of what you do should be focused on pushing the business forward. Think about whether your salary is worth it to the company. If it is, great! You’re on the right track, so make sure you don’t swerve off it!

But, if you’re thinking that what you’re doing right now probably isn’t worth your salary, it’s time to rethink and readjust how you spend your time at work. Having this mindset gives you a clearer perspective of time and accountability.

Ultimately, you’re responsible for the success of your business. So, it’s up to you to start making the necessary changes and holding yourself accountable for the things that you know will drive the business forward.

If you want to know more about how we’ve helped businesses like yours in all these areas, give me a call on 0161 820 6080 or email me at emma@mi-pa.co.uk.

Or visit our services page to discover in more detail the diverse range of services we offer like-minded entrepreneurs and businesses right here https://mi-pa.co.uk/services/.