Watching my boy play basketball this last weekend really got me thinking about the similarities between basketball and business.

As I watched the game, I saw how some of the players would just get into the flow, follow their instincts and move with grace while other kids would stop, think, hesitate and loose out on great opportunities.

Sometimes the other team would steal the ball while a kid slowed down to think about what to do next.

The same happens in business. Have you ever found yourself over-thinking what to do next? Maybe you even know exactly WHAT you need to do you’re just not doing it.

Successful business owners take decisive action. If you stop all the time to think, instead of just moving forward, you’re loosing a lot of momentum and speed. One of my mentors recently said “money loves speed” and I totally agree.

One of the biggest reasons I’ve seen business owners overthink rather than do, is because they don’t have a plan, they doubt themselves and they worry about making mistakes.  Kind of like those kids who were hesitating on the basketball court.

Let’s take a look at each one:

• No plan. If you don’t have a plan it’s easy to simply go in all directions and waste your time on all kinds of activities that lead you nowhere but down a rabbit hole. It’s kind of like going on a road-trip without a map or a GPS. You could be driving forever without ever reaching your destination.

• Doubt yourself. This is one of the biggest obstacles I see holding business owners back. Even if you have a plan, if you doubt yourself in the execution of the plan, you will sabotage your plan before you even implement it.  You get what you believe and when you doubt, you get more reasons to doubt. If you doubt yourself you really need to figure out a way to start believing in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you? (If you need help with this make sure to download the Success-soul™Living Starter Kit to help remove your inner blocks: free resources.

• Afraid of making mistakes. If you’re afraid of making mistakes you are going to be very limited in how you live your life or run your business. As J.K. Rowling said: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – You will be making mistakes. It’s inevitable.  But mistakes are great because they tell you where you need to course correct and help you grow. Do you think Michael Jordan ever made a mistake? Of course he did. It’s because he missed so many baskets that he also made so many of them.

Ever found yourself in one or more of these categories?  If you’re human, I bet you have. The question is not so much if you’ve been there but what you’re going to do in the future to avoid getting trapped in activities that should you back. What’s stopped you from reaching the goals you have set for yourself? Feel free to share by leaving a comment below.