Category: Musings from the MD

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”
― Thomas A. Edison

Instead of counting lengths whilst swimming I’ve been reflecting and thinking back about 2019.   It’s been an exceptionally positive year for me personally and professionally.   However,  at certain times it didn’t feel like it would be.

I put my back “out” in April (spasm and then stuck on all fours next to kids football pitch for 30 minutes) which was a real pain in the….back.   May was a glum month – physio, rest, mild exercise, pain doing anything.

However, looking back that was the turning point.   Not being able to rush around meant I started to focus on the things that were important.  I stopped trying to develop 101 different products for the business,  decided to stick to my comfort zone and stick to a daily routine.   This involved core exercises,  client and prospect calls,  working on the business as well as in it.

Fast forward 7 months and the back is good, my core is strong, I’m swimming 30 minutes at least 3 times a week and the business outlook is so positive.  The excitement is back and my resilience levels are high.

If I look back even further I’ve come so far.  And this is all down to persistence.

I still have a mountain to climb to achieve my goals but the mountain doesn’t scare me and I know I will do it.  Step by step.  By persisting.

I know a fellow business owner who has recently hit a difficult period after 14 good years spent building his business.

He told me last week about it.  In a text message.

I had no idea.  He hadn’t told me anything in the past, the company’s marketing was the best and most proactive it had ever been and they had been doing some great things.    No one would ever know.

Last week he was down.  So we went for a beer and had a chat.  He told me about how this year had been awful and its been a slow decline with a non-existent pipeline.

I listened and gave him some advice from own experience of bad times.  He left that pub with a determination and focus to make things better.

And he will do.   And he’s going to keep chatting to me.

It reminded me of the conversations I had with my business mentor about 18 months ago – before we experienced 80% revenue growth.   Since having a mentor my life, not just my business, is so much better.

So, if you are stuck, in a rut,  have a problem or need to change something in your life then find someone to speak to.

Blake

Chatting to someone I respected yesterday after she’d read my previous blog she told me she didn’t know the phrase.

That shocked me.  This person is smart, a L&D leader, I respect and value her opinion and always learn from.

Because of her experience, I’d wrongly assumed she knew more than me in all walks of life.   She doesn’t.  There are many things she can learn from me.

So this is a reminder to myself, but also to help anyone who has ever felt this way.

Let’s stop it together.  Stop assuming that people are doing more.  Stop assuming that people know more.  Stop assuming that people are performing better than you.

Start realising your own strengths.  Start recognising what you do know.  Start focusing on your own performance.

Blake

There is a saying – “shipping beats perfection”

What this means its better to have a working product with flaws, than having a perfect non-working product, or thing.  Its commonly used in the technology world.  We might call it “working out loud” in the L&D space.

Perfectionism can also be a form of procrastination and a way of avoiding fears.   I know i’ve done both.

Saying “its not right yet” is fine if you have feedback from others that its not, but what about if its just your own thoughts?    Has someone told you its not good enough, or are you setting good standards, or too high standards?  Does it matter?

Personally, I think we can all learn to “ship” knowing that we’ll get some comments about flaws, but with the belief that for some people what they receive will be good enough (and hopefully, for some it will be perfect) and this way we learn.

But what do you think?

Blake