It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut. Sometimes we don’t even recognise that we’re in one.

A rut’s boring, same old same old. Dull, right? And that’s not your life!

Well what if it is?

Many successful small business owners get stuck in a rut. It’s called The Struggle, and while it’s anything but boring, it’s definitely a rut. Some find that they can’t get out of it. Many more don’t want to. It’s comfortable, they know where they’re at with it, it’s their norm.

They tell themselves that they’ve already stepped out of their comfort zone to create their business. They tell themselves that they are successful, and that running a successful business comes at a price – no time and no life beyond it.

They tell themselves they’re ok with that, and they’re surrounded by other Strugglers who confirm that they’re right. They revel in war stories of their eighty-hour weeks, and comfort themselves that they are still working to improve themselves by attending weekend seminars and late evening webinars, while other ‘less successful’ people are enjoying time with family and friends.

They’ve created a new comfort zone, and their rut’s too deep to see beyond it. Your personal management system will get you out of your rut, but it needs three things to be be successful:

Discipline – in developing success habits and daily routines, in ditching the stuff that doesn’t serve you and delegating to your assistant and your team, in listening to your mentor.

Integrity – keeping your commitments to others, and to yourself, persevering with your habits and sticking to deadlines.

Celebration – celebrating all of your wins, no matter how small they are.

Learn to manage yourself, and the business will be a piece of cake!

Do one thing: Review your habits – are they success habits or are you stuck in a rut; in love with the struggle?