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“You're too nice”, my mum would say when I let other kids copy my homework. I heard it while I was at uni and later at the office.
When someone asked me to do something my default answer was YES.
I kept doing that when I started my own business and what I thought was great customer service actually lead me straight into exhaustion and burnout.
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“You're too nice!”, my mum would say when a school friend wouldn't stick to what we'd agreed and I didn't say anything.
“You're too nice!”, I'd hear at uni when I spent months taking lecture notes with carbon paper (yes, it's that long ago) so I could give a copy to a sick friend.
“You're too nice”, work colleagues would say when I stayed late so they could pick up their kids on time.
When someone asked me a favour my default answer was “yes”.
I kept saying yes to client requests when I started my own business, even if the request went beyond what could be considered reasonable. It left me exhausted and burnt out, ready to throw in the towel.
I took some time to learn the difference between pleasing and serving.
The thing is nobody has business problems, we have personal issues that show up in our business . I can certainly see how that played out for me and how the answer to my business questions were inside of me, hidden in plain sight.
What about you? Which business issue is a personal issue in disguise?
