5 Ways Thinking Like A Child Can Turn Your Whole Business Around

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Jan. 12, 2016 - PRLog -- As business owner you have to make some difficult decisions, and more often than not those decisions are boxed in by “real-world” limitations – no time, no money. Susan Sherbert, author of “A White Hat & Rose Colored Glasses,” says, “As adults, we tend to focus on doubt, fears, and judgment. Imagine for a moment how different your business could be if you were fearless, passionate, creative, and confident – like a kid.”

Use your imagination, the adult word for visualization. According to the National Eye Institute, as we age our peripheral vision begins to shrink – an appropriate metaphor for focusing on what’s right in front of us instead of possible solutions. Top athletes, entrepreneurs, motivational leaders, life coaches, and others all know the necessity of visualization for success. In other words, use your imagination! Your actions are what will get you there, but your imagination lights the way.

Rediscover that annoying “Why?” phase. You’re stuck, you’ve hit a wall, and you need answers. Answers are important for more than just solving the problem; new information leads to new questions and new knowledge. Start asking “Why?” about all aspects of your business – why is your overhead so high? And when you get the answer that question, ask why that’s the reason. Why, why, why? More knowledge leads to more solutions – and wanting more, even more knowledge, can be the motivation you need to turn things around.

Children don’t have problems, only obstacles. When a child has something in the way of what they want, they don’t see a problem, only an obstacle to overcome – they don’t know it can’t be done. Obstacles can be overcome – so start seeing your “problems” that way. Our problem solving is limited by our imagination. We color in-between the lines because it’s reliable and comfortable, and when we can’t do that we react by turning a minor obstacle into an impossible problem. Use your imagination, and turn those problems into obstacles.

Combine the adult and child, and understand the difference between dangerous and unknown. When children find something new, there is no fear about it – they have adults to protect them from the dangerous stuff. It’s not dangerous to them it’s just unknown. We start to lose this as we get older, and more often than not confuse the two. Even with little to no downside, many people won’t want to try new strategies for fear of disappointment or a misguided view that it is dangerous because it’s different than the reliable and comfortable methods. It is not dangerous – it is just unknown. And innovation can breed success.

Put “I Want!” back in your vocabulary. When you start a business, it’s probably because you wanted something – more money, the freedom of being your own boss, etc. But as time goes on, our peripheral vision shrinks, and the obstacles of running a business become the only things we’re focusing on, we lose that “I Want,” from our thinking. That thing you want in your imagination should always be there – so think “I Want” more often and use those visualizations as motivation to hit your goal.

When you meet a complicated obstacle in running your business and you’re not sure where to turn, it might be time to call in a kid.

   Susan Sherbert is the author of “A White Hat & Rose Colored Glasses” (http://www.awhitehat.com) – the innovative new guide to rediscovering the fearlessness and creativity of childhood and how to apply it in your “adult” world. Susan is a business owner, humor columnist, and the author of a Sliver Award-winning monthly newsletter for over 12 years. Today, she uses her writing and platform to teach others the value of child-like thinking to live dreams and change lives.