3 Personal Promises Every Executive Business Leader Should Make That Accelerate Growth

Being a leader means that what you do affects not only yourself but also impacts those you lead. People will look at what you do — not what you say. They’ll look to your example of leadership personified.

Being a business leader means you have an even wider reach because of your personal brand. The Internet and social media have created channels for business leaders to publish content and produce messaging that impacts millions of people daily. You have an always-growing opportunity to teach an engaged group of consumers your philosophies about life, growth, and business.

As a leader, it’s not uncommon for the pull of your attention to consume your time and priorities. Before you know it, you’re helping more people than you’re helping yourself. While there are clients that will pay you for your time, it’s easy to lose sight of your vision and purpose in the grind of building a business.

The goal of business is to create a life of freedom. Here are three promises every leader should consider making that lead to sustainable growth and purpose-driven life.

1. Promise to not work with clients simply because they’re willing to pay.
   It’s an exciting thought to have more clients than you know what to do with. The opportunity to market and acquire clients through digital means is exciting and creates more possibilities. It helps businesses reach customers with fewer costs, and you can keep them longer.

   You might offer products and services at a wide range of price points. You might even have a higher-end service that’s available for elite consumers. Just because a potential customer is willing to pay for even your highest-priced offer doesn’t mean you should accept them.

   Your goal as a business leader isn’t to work with everyone; it’s to work with the clients that make building your business exciting. You want to look at your schedule and feel good about what you see. If you wake up right now and dread some of the names on your list, it’s time to make a change. Please don’t listen to limiting beliefs; you can have it all.

   It’s savvy to have an onboarding process during sales conversations that filters out potential clients that aren’t a great fit. It would help if you asked leading questions showing the client relationship that would not work out because of value differences or unrealistic expectations.

   Taking on clients simply because they’re willing to pay is a scarcity-based mindset. The Internet and social media offer five billion daily consumers as potential customers. You can create a steady stream of ideal clients with targeted marketing that disqualifies those for whom your product and service are unsuitable.

   As a high-performance-focused business leader, understand that your energy and excitement for how you’ll spend your days is paramount for your growth. Build a business stacked with ideal clients that don’t drain you.

2. Promise that you’ll make your personal growth your primary priority before taking on the pull of outside circumstances.
   The effort you put into your optimization pays dividends for you as a leader. Putting in the work to develop a stronger mindset and creating healthy habits builds an optimized you and the development of your business. You should set aside blocks to work on your personal growth goals.

   As a successful business leader, there will always be a pull for your time and attention. You have many responsibilities, and it’s easy to get lost in the demands of outside circumstances. If you were to take an authentic look at your day, how much time is spent on prioritizing your goals?

   One path to sustainable growth is making your development the primary responsibility you have each day. Give to outside circumstances from a place of abundance. If you give away too much energy, you won’t have the energy needed to put in the consistent work to grow yourself and your business.

   One of the promises every business leader should consider making is putting the primary priority on their growth. Take care of yourself before outside circumstances get a look, even if they’re your clients. As you grow, you’ll have more to give to clients and those in your life.

3. Promise to not be afraid to take on challenging tasks and learn from any unexpected setbacks.
   Real growth happens by experiencing challenging circumstances and coming out the other side with lessons you apply to your life. Too often, avoidance is the choice people make when they’re experiencing more challenging circumstances. Hard things will always be there; one of the keys to sustained growth is excepting challenges and doing something about them.

   Growth-focused leaders do hard things. They don’t practice avoidance; in fact, they make hard things a priority. They understand that it frees up mental bandwidth and relieves stress if they can do the more challenging tasks. One of the promises every leader should make is to do hard things and learn from each experience. Many leaders say they don’t care what other people think, but we know that’s not the case. When you can learn not to let the opinions of others dictate the decisions you make, you develop a mindset that’s willing to embrace hard things.

Growth is the goal and the best way to build a business that creates a life of freedom. The goal is to spend your time on the essential things and help you live out your vision of success. Mindset is not just a cute Instagram concept; it’s one of the keys to living an incredible life.

Set proper boundaries with what you will allow. Focus on making yourself the primary responsibility each day. Promise yourself that you will practice self-care and let your actions show that it’s true. As you take better care, you’ll grow, and that will allow you to be better at everything else in your life.

Optimization of yourself allows you to give the world, your clients, and even your family the best you have to offer. Make promises to yourself that support a stronger you.

Written by Dr. Wayne Pernell.