Your present situation is not your final destination because the best is yet to come!
In fact we are the authors of our own life stories and just like any good ‘read’ our lives are filled with happy and sad events, times of laughter and times of struggle. For some the times of struggle are more than we can comprehend. I often think of people overcoming struggles as being like salmon swimming upstream. Are they going in the wrong direction or are they finding their own way.
I remember my Grandfather saying ” you’ve got to find your own way in life” and I used to think ‘what does he mean? I look back now and I realise that what he was really saying was, that I had to make choices that felt right. As it happens it’s sound advice but making choices about what felt right has also got me into trouble or not turned out the way I had hoped. I now use those negative experiences as stepping stones to something even better!
How many of us get pushed along dancing to someone else’s tune? This is different from guidance or advice because those offering you that do so out of a sense of care. Those pushing us along do so for their own reasons. This is why it’s important to have a firm plan and focus in business. In my experience being strategic is about three things:
1. Staying focused ~ know where your going, understand what the outcomes are but also recognise what they will actually look like. Too often we start in business and suddenly become vague about everything to do with that business. Are we vague in our personal lives? Of course not so why do it with our businesses? Be clear about what you are aiming to achieve, what you’re offering and how you are unique!
2. Seeing the bigger picture ~ this is more than being strategic focusing on the horizon, it’s about being able to see things from above. What makes our business different? Why should people choose us? What exactly are we offering? Strangely, I meet successful business people who seem unable to apply these principles to their personal lives?
3. Being able to assess the risk and manage success ~ this might seem odd but like anything in life, things unexpectedly happen! Things can go wrong, you can come up against an obstacle or things can become so successful, you’re swept along through success.
I’ve been on this very journey building HEALS (Help Empowerment And Local Support) and in my persoanl life too. There have been times I’ve doubted decisions, times when things have just seemed too far out of reach. There’ve also been other times when success has swept me along. It’s at these times I’ve had to apply the brakes, take a step back and reassess the direction. We should all do an assessment exercise in our business. I find it strange that people put together a business/strategic plan, write a governing document and then proceed to leave it on a shelf never to be looked at again. Then they wonder why it all goes/went wrong!
They’ve forgotten one important thing and that is their present situation is not their destination because their best is yet to come!
alisoncrossjones 