One of the greatest problems I believe that many small and medium business owners have is that they spend the majority of their time attempting to solve problems that do not exist.

Now before you pick up the phone to call and give me a piece of your mind please read the rest of this article first!

In my experience most of us focus on symptoms as opposed to problems. And whatever we focus on is what we will get more of. So if we are focused on symptoms, then we will get more symptoms.

For example, if your business’s sales are not meeting your targets, is that a problem or a symptom? Let me suggest it’s not a problem, but a symptom.

Inadequate sales could be the result of a number problems like poor lead generation, or poor sales systems and training, poor customer retention rates, below par service levels, and so on.

By finding the root cause, or what the problem actually is, you give yourself the best chance of dealing with a problem and subsequently eliminating the symptoms.

To take it one step further, there are no such things as problems. A problem to me is a project in disguise. If we have a problem with attracting new team members, we don’t a have a problem. We have a ‘project’ called ‘attracting new team members’. If we have a problem with lead generation, we don’t have a problem. We have a project called ‘generating new leads’.

Your ability to identify and distinguish between your ‘symptoms’ and your ‘problems’ will have a massive impact on your ability to deal with them effectively. And your effectiveness will ultimately determine whether you will achieve the kind of results you so desire.