For our latest Yardstick team bios on our website, we were given a series of questions to choose from, with the answers giving readers a little insight into our idiosyncrasies and lives beyond the professional.

One of the questions I answered was “What’s something you’re surprisingly bad at?”

I didn’t have to think for very long, because this one really bugs me. I’m terrible at Scrabble. Whenever I play with friends and family, they assume I’ll be brilliant as I’m a writer. But any kind of anagrams or jumbles of letters just baffle me. Then, when I inevitably lose, I’m roundly jeered at and derided. Not great for someone with a competitive nature.

(I’m in good company here. Fans of the Knives Out films might remember a scene in Glass Onion where one of the characters says the great detective Benoit Blanc must be good at the game Clue. His answer: “I’m very bad at dumb things. Running around, searching all the rooms… it’s a terrible, terrible game”).

Another question I chose was “What’s a tiny inconvenience that annoys you more than it should?”

Here I could have answered many, many things. The one that sprang to mind, though, was filling my car with petrol. I hate it with a passion, even though it doesn’t take long and isn’t even all that inconvenient. But I leave it until my petrol light is on, then I panic and the task takes on an even greater sense of urgency.

While these answers in themselves are pretty mundane, the questions are interesting.

Because they pose another question: Why does it have to be this way?

And another answer: It doesn’t have to be this way.

And here’s where taking a different view on these questions and answers could help you shift not only your mindset, but your business direction.

1. Use your weaknesses to learn and grow

Since lockdown, I’ve learnt how to play chess, and I now play online with a few friends. I started off appallingly, but over time I’ve become more strategic, more focused, more engaged. I could take the same approach with Scrabble, play regularly instead of infrequently, learn the hacks of the game better, and generally up the ante instead of just writing myself off as “terrible”.

There might be certain aspects of your business that you’ve always felt are weaker than others. And those are the ones that you might feel tempted to ignore. Focusing on your strengths always feels more positive, while admitting to weaknesses can seem counterproductive.

But identifying any areas for improvement is one of the best ways to sharpen your competitive edge.

Don’t wait for the weak links in your business to magically fix themselves.

Instead, take inspiration from the great Andy Warhol, who said: “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

2. Find your business’s petrol light

There are probably a lot of things in your working life that you find inconvenient. But while I have a petrol light in my car that acts as a shining beacon telling me I have to bite the bullet and fill my car up, there’s no equivalent in the workplace.

Take some time to figure out what your professional petrol lights could be. What do you leave until the absolute last minute? What sets your teeth on edge just thinking about it? And what can you do about it?

It may be that you can delegate. I told a few friends about my petrol phobia, and while some agreed with me, others didn’t know what I was talking about. If the thing you hate doing is something that someone else is fine with, that’s worth considering.

But in general, you just have to do it anyway. For example, leaving a software update just postpones the inevitable, and often when you’re forced to act, it’s the worst-possible moment.

It’s often tempting to wait for motivation to strike before taking action. However, I’ve discovered that, in neurological terms, we’re actually wired the other way round. Motivation is a by-product of action, not a precursor. Any slight sensation of progress can cause your brain to release dopamine, spurring you on.

So instead of waiting for the red lights to start flashing, take a calmer approach. What you think you hate doing could actually become a valuable foundation for better business efficiency.

Psychologist and author David Burns sums up this point nicely: “Motivation does not come first, action does. You have to risk action before you feel motivated.”

Get in touch

Sometimes, the things we’re not so good at and the things that niggle at us can seem pretty trivial. But in business, left unattended, these can snowball into problems.

At the Yardstick Agency, we’re here to help you overcome these hurdles, taking your business to a place of growth and efficiency.

For more information, please email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300.