Business Competition: Fuel or Distraction?
Written By:
Carol Roth | 11 Comments
This blog features Carol Roth's tough love on business and entrepreneurship, as well as insights from Carol's community of contributors.
I often see parallels between sports and business. Let’s take football for example. The player who gets the ball and runs with it to try to score points for his team is not unlike an entrepreneur who takes an idea and runs with it, trying to create revenue for his business.
As the running back or wide receiver is running a full sprint towards the goal line, it is tempting for him to look back over his shoulder. He knows that the competition is on his heels and it’s hard to resist the urge to check out how close they truly are. But when a player does that, it slows him down, often to the point that the competitor can catch up- or even tackle him.
I see the same thing with entrepreneurs, especially those blazing a trail. It’s tempting to waste time on the competitors who are following behind, trying to copy or catch us, or even just causing a ridiculous commotion. However, it’s much more effective to stay focused on your own goal line.
Put your energy into running as fast as you can and blazing the path towards the goal, instead of worrying about where your competition is or what they are doing. If you keep your focus and you have the talent, they won’t be able to catch you.
Author: Carol Roth Carol Roth is a business strategist, deal maker and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Entrepreneur Equation. She has helped her clients, ranging from solopreneurs to multinational corporations, raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete hundreds of millions of dollars in M&A transactions, secure high-profile licensing and partnership deals, create brand loyalty programs and more.
Carol is a frequent radio, television and print media contributor on the topics of business and entrepreneurship, having appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, Fox Business, WGN TV Chicago and more. Additionally, Carol’s Unsolicited Business Advice blog at CarolRoth.com was recently named as one of the Top 10 small business blogs online.
Twitter: @CarolJSRoth
caroljsroth
wilbhart Yes, distractions of all sorts are keeping us from kicking butt! Thanks for commenting.
murraystrachan
Yes I liked your post and totally agree with the parallels between sport and business. I wrote about this in my own blog "Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from Sport!" - http://murraystrachan.blogspot.com/2011/09/entrepr...
caroljsroth
murraystrachan Cool- I will check it out!
skooloflife
It's funny that you bring this up. I think it's really easy to get caught up in measuring other people's success against your own. When you do that it actually makes you feel like crap and then your actions align accordingly. While I think it's important to look at what's working for other people, sometimes it can actually get in your way.
My latest conversation: The Lottery Logic
caroljsroth
skooloflife The funny thing is that perception becomes reality and often when you peek behind the scenes folks that you thought were doing well really are sort of like the "Wizard of Oz"
caroljsroth
Ayla85 Competition can push you but it can also consume you- I prefer to let it do the former
SportTel
Great! I love business and sports with tech it's my passion. Thanks Carol!
caroljsroth
SportTel Glad it resonated with you. Stay tuned for more
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Great post Carol. We live in a era where distraction is the order of the day. The most focused individuals stay the course that they initially set for themselves and make only necessary adjustments. I really appreciate your thoughts on this.
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