The title of the sermon could have been “Name Your Demon.” Reverend Gayle preached from the Gospel of Luke and the story of Jesus casting out demons from a man named Legion, whose name reflected the many demons that possessed and tormented him for many years. When Jesus cast the demons out, they went into a herd of swine, which ran off the bank into a lake and drowned. The man was healed.

In historical times, it was thought, that being able to say the name of whatever demon one was dealing with gained power over it. Reverend Gayle asked us to name our present day “demons”, whether addiction, a bad relationship, ill health, or whatever.

She believes, as do I, that focusing thought and prayer on our demons is the first step in gaining control over them. Her sermon was thought-provoking, and it prompted the following, which may be relevant to business owners.

The truth is, we all have “demons” in our personal and professional lives. So let’s focus on the professional side for now. Let me be a little bit personal.

Attention Deficit Disorder?

In my early years, I’m sure I had undiagnosed ADD. While I was able to focus with effort, it was very easy for me to fritter time by allowing my focus to shift from one topic or task to another. It was difficult for me to perform anywhere near my abilities.

You may think that ADD would be a personal demon, rather than a professional one. In my case, while it was personal, its greatest impact was in my professional life. I realized in my late twenties and early thirties that I could control my ADD by catching myself as attention wandered. By recognizing what was happening, I was able to refocus and keep going.

Controlling this ADD was critical as my career developed, writing became increasingly important for my professional development, and I had to address long-run business development issues that are all accomplished in a series of short-runs.

I suppose I’ll always have an element of this ADD thing, but it is under much better control now than in my twenties and thirties through what I call self-medication – i.e., just being aware when focus is lost and then doing something about it.

I had to name the demon of ADD to gain control over it.

Bad Attitude

A bad attitude can also be a demon. In my teens and twenties, I somehow felt that I deserved an appropriate level of success. I have told my children for years and young people I come into contact with: “Be careful of asking for what you deserve – you might get it.” And I was getting what I deserved with a bad attitude.

I remember the day in 1976 when, after a long struggle, I decided to change my outward attitude toward life through an act of will. I was motivated to make this instantaneous change of outward attitude by an early mentor, Ian Arnof, who hired me at First Horizon Corporation (then First Tennessee) in 1975. I can still remember Ian’s consistent response to the universal question of “How’s it going?” He said, with a smile on his face:

“Great! If I were doing any better, I couldn’t stand it!”

I’ve modified this statement over the years to something like the following:

“Great! If I were doing any better it would be illegal in Arkansas!”

Instead of grousing about what was wrong or what was not happening, I decided to put a positive spin on every conversation I had with others back in 1976. I continue to try to do this every day. Why? Because it works!

Note that I didn’t instantly change my bad attitude. If you can figure out how to do that, bottle it and sell it! What I changed were my actions when given opportunities to display my attitude. It actually didn’t take too long for my bad attitude to begin to change following the repeated action of expressing a good attitude.

There’s science behind this concept of actions preceding attitudinal change, but that’s for someone else to address.

I had to name the demon of a bad attitude to gain control over it.

Procrastination

Another demon that many professionals share is that of procrastination. Procrastination is another form of lack of focus. In the early 1980s, I learned the “trick” to overcoming procrastination. The key is found in one word, momentum.

A mentor of mine, Wally Lowenbaum, said this: “Chris, the key to success in life is momentum. If you don’t have it, you need to do everything in your power to get it. If you have it, you need to do everything in your power to keep it moving in your favor.” It is hard to procrastinate when you have momentum, whether in your personal or professional life.

The trick with momentum is to begin with little steps that move the stone (you) in the direction of your goals a little bit at a time. But each step has to be followed by another step, and the stone begins to move, and then to roll. When you truly have momentum, your rolling stone will gather no moss as it rushes forward and it will countenance no procrastination.

Momentum? or Procrastination? Take your pick. I choose momentum.

I had to name the demon of procrastination to gain control over it.

There are other many demons in our professional lives. Some may be temporary, and others may have been with us for many years. Some we have worked on and others have been ignored. But we all have demons.

Can you name your demon(s)?

What are you willing to do, today, to gain control over it or them?

I remember this Pogo cartoon by Walt Kelly from back in the day. It is an excellent reflection piece to help us name our demons.

If Pogo can name his demons, then so can we. Isn’t it nice to know that we can begin to gain control over them by simply naming them? A modified expression captures what Reverend Gayle and I are saying:

It is better to deal with the devil (or demon) you know than the one you don’t know.

Lesson for Business Owners

Business owners of closely held and family businesses, like everyone else, have professional demons. These could include ones like I’ve named above, or others. What are your professional demons?

• Poor working relationships with others?
• Reluctance (or fear) of trying new things?
• Problems or issues you know exist at your business but simply do not address?
• Need or desire to control too much?
• Reluctance to let go and to make important management transitions?
• Procrastination?
• Ignoring the need for integrating your personal financial planning with that of the business that is driving your wealth?

Like I said, we all have demons. That is not the lesson from this post. The lesson is that if we name them, we can begin to do something about them. We can take the little steps that get the stone moving to the point where it has (or you have) momentum. And when you have momentum, you will leave your demons behind.