bizRichard

It often happens happens, but never was it more poignant than a few years back when I was caught in yet another traffic jam – with an important meeting to attend.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “You’re going so fast you’re standing still” - a phrase amusingly thrown at someone rushing around in a frenzy, but hardly achieving anything. And I’ll wager a bet that it often applies to you also – during your busy busy days at work.

But back to my traffic jam!

I’d left with plenty of time in hand and had been making good progress towards my destination – my driving mind on auto-pilot as I considered the issues and the outcomes of the meeting ahead.

Suddenly the brake lights on the vehicles ahead started flashing blindingly as the traffic slowed – and slowed - until it finally stopped. A little judder forward as the cars bunched up – and then nothing.

Five minutes went by – I switched off my engine. Then it was ten – then twenty. Extreme agitation set in as I reached for my mobile phone to contact the venue – I was now very tight for time. But suddenly the traffic started moving. With an audible sigh of relief I started my engine, raced forward 30 yards - and stopped again – nothing was moving.

I picked up my phone, dialled the number – but the absence of a dialling tone soon made me realise I had no network coverage! I was never going to make the meeting now – and I couldn’t even tell them why. I felt sick – literally.

So I pulled the car over to the side of the road, got out, and strolled across to the roadside hedge. There was a farm gate, which I opened, and closed slowly behind me as I looked for somewhere to sit down.

Deep with worry – I’d spent weeks setting up this very important deal – I found myself settling down beside a thicket of trees. I shut my eyes, depressed, and resigned to failure. If only I’d left a little earlier – gone a different way – organised a different venue – later in the day - if only – if only . . . .

A flurry of wings just above me made me look up. It was a pair of blackbirds, and their loud, persistent, and variable conversation took me away from my problems as I watched them flit playfully from branch to branch.

I hadn’t noticed until then, but the day was a glorious spring morning – full of sunshine and warmth.

The field in front of me was littered with contented grazing ewes, their spring lambs bouncing around as they tested their new-found legs. The bigger lambs were playing games together, interspersed with panic-felt bleating when they realised they had ‘lost’ their mothers – all of them oblivious to my problems. My attention was drawn to the graceful and majestic flight of a heron as it glided down to the river below – the river it shared with a couple of busy mallard and their young fledglings that scurried in and out of the reeds.

The uneven rustle of leaves above in the gentle breeze completed the peaceful chorus of the countryside, as did the delightful spring flowers beside me complete a tranquil picture.

Here was pure nature, a part of me, a part of each and every one of us, that I had forgotten about and ignored as my business increasingly consumed my life. I thought about my wife, and my young children, growing up with a father too busy to give them the love and time they deserved – lost years I would never recover - unless I changed the way I did things.

It was late afternoon by the time I had picked myself up to walk back to the car.

And I drove straight home – I’d not been home this early in years.

And, instead of my usual “goodnight” to slumbering bodies, I found alive, joyful, loving children, their hugs just so wonderful and free. We all ate supper together, played games, and enjoyed ‘the moment’ late into the night. And the next day I took off too - to spend exclusively with the family.

Thanks to that traffic jam, on that fateful day some years ago now, I’d been forced to ’slow down’ - just long enough to realise I had all my priorities upside down. Life, with the family, should come first - work is just a means, not a purpose.

I did win that contract (and still have it), even though I didn’t make the meeting – they were chasing me - and I was then the one ‘in control’. And when you are ‘in control’ the decisions you make are more rational, strategic and effective than those ‘reactive’ short term survival tactics applied when working under pressure.

Make no mistake, I still continued to work hard - but never again did ‘work’ consume or intrude into MY time. My ‘appointments’ with myself and the family were as important as my appointments with my clients.

So, my ‘advice’ to you, if you are finding life hectic, is to ’slow down’ and check up on your priorities - before it’s too late. Take some time out, on a regular basis - I still do - to think about and re-assess your position and your longer term dreams - and what you need to do or change to get there.

Do that, and you will discover something very remarkable - that the more time you give yourself, the more strategic and efficient you become, and the more profitable your business becomes.

So, on that note, go work smarter

Richard C

PS - Whenever I hit a traffic jam now, I simply smile, say ‘thank you’, and relax - just try it a couple of times! (Remember, it’s not the event that causes stress - it’s your reaction to that event that is the stress.)

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One of the topics that keeps coming up in discussions with clients is how “difficult” or “impossible” they find so many things.

And yes, maybe that’s true of some things. What worthwhile goal was ever achieved without some degree of effort?

If it was that easy, then everybody would get to live their ‘dream life’??

What gets done quickly seems easy. But then comes “difficult”. And then the next stage – and there’s a huge difference - between things being “difficult”. .. and finally becoming “impossible.”

Why is that?

Unfortunately, because certain (possibly many) people seem to become preoccupied or focus on the “difficult” aspect of things, they eventually convert these to ‘impossible’ - in their own minds. And then, because it’s “impossible”, it then never happens.

So here’s a little secret about what you want to concentrate on when you’re trying to get something done.

Change the paradigm – focus on the beginning, not the ‘end’. Obviously you keep the ‘end’ in mind, but you focus on ‘one step at a time’ - nothing more.

When Warren Buffet started, he focused on making his first investment, not building one of the largest insurance and holding companies in the world.

And when Bill Gates started, his passion was developing his operating system, not on building the biggest software company in the world, or on becoming one of the wealthiest people in the world.

So focus on the beginning, and on each step along the way. Each individual step, each ‘bite-sized’ chunk, is rarely overwhelming on its own.

And then you will find that ‘almost nothing’ (within reason) is impossible – unless, of course, you choose to make it so.

So, easy? difficult?, or impossible? It truly is up to you – it’s your choice.

Now think about it, get out there and make more money the SMART way.

Richard C

If you enjoy reading these ‘posts’, do two things for me please:
1. sign up (top right) to be notified immediately a new post is released, and
2. forward this on to a friend you know who might enjoy them too.
Rest assured, your email address will not be divulged to anyone else – I hate ‘spam’ as much as you do.

My apologies for this unusual blog posting.

But it is to make you (especially my UK readers) aware of an email phishing scam that I’ve been warned about today and have passed on to all my clients – it’s allegedly from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The email to me, from a fellow professional firm, reads as follows:

“A number of our clients have received emails purporting to come from HMRC advising on refunds of tax. They look official and have the correct logo and a very convincing website address.

However, clicking on the link can either entice you to give sensitive information or, as in one case, cause severe damage to your computer.

HMRC will never contact you directly via email about tax matters.

Should you receive any such email which you consider might be genuine, please telephone your usual contact at the firm to enable us to make enquiries on your behalf.”

Likewise, if you have any worries, do let me know.

End of Alert

Richard C

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