Lessons for business, careers & life…
I was sitting on the back of the 6:10am Manly to the city ferry across Sydney Harbour a few Wednesday’s ago, on my way to my usual weekly 7am meeting, looking out east across the water at the pre-dawn fan of pink rays spanning across & stretching up from the horizon – stunning.
Despite the stunning view in front of me, I made myself look over the rail in the opposite direction & I noticed a dark wall of fog drifting only over the city & the southern shore, with just the tips of the city skyscrapers & Centrepoint Tower sticking out of the top, kissed gold by the first rays of the rising sun. Breathtaking.
I looked around me on the ferry to see who I could share the sights with, & was quite shocked to see that only one other person had seen this amazing sight. Everyone else had their heads down, staring at the floor or into their phones.
I thought about this for a while, & realised this is very indicative of what I see in my experience running my coaching business, of what can happen in people’s businesses, careers, leadership, etc, if they don’t take time to lift their heads up & have a look around.
People often go about their daily tasks – be that running a business, leading a team, generally going through their careers/lives, etc – doing the same thing every day, immersed in & swept along by the frantic busy-ness, not taking time to stick their heads up from it all to see what’s around them, to take time to see the wood for the trees.
So what? Who cares? Well, that’s just the point: people often don’t care. They don’t take the time to smell the metaphorical flowers, to stop & look around, to listen, to think.
As a result, opportunities are often missed; the chance for new clients/business drifts by unseen; the same mistakes are repeated, often without realising it; work & life in general streams by; clients, colleagues, friends come & go. People get stuck in varying degrees of sameness – drudgery even. Time flies by…
Until suddenly, something happens – business cash flow dries up… you suddenly wake up & simply cannot face your boss one more day… you realise you really hate your job & have wasted the past x number of years, you are overlooked for promotion, a serious illness happens, your partner leaves you – only then do you start to take stock & get into action.
Crisis. Panic. Desperation. Fear. Stress. How stressful does life suddenly become?
There are always unseen circumstances of course, no-one can foresee nor control everything.
However, take time to stop, lift your head up out of whatever you are involved in, be present & aware of what is around you – stop to see the woods for the trees, be that in your professional or personal life.
You are much more likely to prevent a lot of those crises. Or at the very least stop them & deal with them as minor issues rather than letting them develop into huge problems.
Start taking time NOW to actively manage your business, your career, your life, in the direction you want it to go. You are much more likely to:
- Take action to do things differently and avoid a crisis entirely or mitigate it before it hits
- Feel more in control of your life
- Be more successful
- Be happier in general
Get into the habit of stopping to look around you – not just physically, but mentally. Stop & think. In your professional and personal life.
If you don’t stop & look, you may never notice that million dollar idea; that ideal partner; that life changing experience; that promotion opportunity…
But by stopping, looking & thinking, you may avoid the looming cash-flow crisis, you may realise your partner isn’t happy in time, you will enjoy your kids growing up & remember it… You may see that something that makes a difference.
So take time to stop & take stock, to think.
Start to actively manage your business, your career, your life rather than letting it manage you!
Start getting into the habit NOW! Next time you’re walking around the city, or simply travelling to work, at home with your family, take a few moments to look around you. Turn off the TV, put down the phone or Crackberry! Look up instead of staring at the ground!
You never know what you might be missing! Something great might just be there at the corner of your eye or mind & you haven’t noticed it!
At the very least, you might just see something different that will make you smile!