In my work as a business coach over the past decade, I have witnessed so many clients’ businesses moving forward by leaps and bounds when they begin to set aside a specific time each week to work ON their business.  By working ‘ON’, I mean THINKING about your business. Not worrying about things or over-focusing on what didn’t get done today. I mean investing time to think critically about HOW you do things, WHO you serve, WHY you’re special! Thinking literally increases your value to your business and your team (if you have one). In this article, I’ll share 10 different types of thinking that we can employ when it comes to working ON our businesses – betcha’ didn’t know there were 10 different types of thinking, eh?

1. Big Picture – ‘Big picture’ thinking is stepping away from the day-to-day and considering your longer-term goals and objectives. Re-visit your vision for your business. Set those annual goals and review your progress against them.
2. Focused – When we set aside a distraction-free zone for ourselves, we’re helping our brains to focus on a specific task or problem. This is problem-solving time. Focused thinking can help you weigh up options and opportunities and then make the appropriate decision.
3. Creative – Creative thinking involves, for example, looking at HOW you do something and considering how you can do that thing just 1% better. Creative thinking will help you come up with new and interesting topics for your fortnightly newsletter or your daily social media post.
4. Realistic – Realistic thinking comes into play when we need to weigh up the IMPACT of taking a certain action. For example, ‘If I make a change to how I communicate with my clients, how will that impact on their experience?’ or ‘If I change up this piece of software, what impacts will it have in other areas of my business?’
5. Possibility – Possibility thinking is ‘no-limits’ thinking! If money and time were of no consequence, what would you do in your business? What could you do if you were fearless?
6. Strategic – I like to think of ‘strategic’ thinking as ‘lateral’ thinking. Making connections where connections aren’t immediately obvious. Strategic thinking comes into play when we begin to think about scaling our business, for instance. It also helps when we consider who else we need in our inner circle to help take us farther, faster in our business.
7. Reflective – This is the type of thinking that allows us the time and space to ask ourselves ‘What went well this quarter? What didn’t go so well? And What can I LEARN from that?’
8. Questioning – When we question the status quo, that’s a wonderful thing, because we shift ourselves our of our comfort zone. Asking ourselves WHY we do a certain thing a certain way is key for helping us try new things and dump things that aren’t working.
9. Shared – Shared thinking is the ‘mastermind’ or ‘inner circle’ concept. When we have a small group of people we can bring problems and unique challenges to and discuss possible solutions, we expand our thinking!
10. Bottom-Line – This type of thinking is all about how taking a certain action will impact your business’ profitability! Because let’s face it, if we aren’t profitable, we won’t be around very long! Ensure you weigh up your return on investment for each purchase, each hire or each CHANGE in your business before you jump in.

If you’d like to know more about Jennifer, check out her LinkedIn profile here OR visit her website here.