A business person started a restaurant, ran it successfully for five years, and realised that the long working hours were killing him. He decided to sell up and start a new wholesale business in the food trade.
How many of us wake up in time before disaster strikes? How many small business owners set aside time to reflect on how far they’ve come, what is wrong in their business and lives and make decisions to change things?
Why is it that we leave things for so long and do nothing about them and then wake up often when it’s too late?
It’s a difficult question to answer. There could be many reasons. Perhaps we don’t want things to change. We could be unable to see a way out. We might not see new possibilities in change.
Insight into where you are, where you are going and how to change your circumstances is an important survival skill. Another one is to handle or adapt to changing circumstances. A longitudinal study showed that one of the crucial success factors among people is the ability to handle upsets, tragedy and misfortune.
Sensitivity to your present circumstances and the impact on those around you is a quality to be valued.
Your bridge between undesirable circumstances and envisaging a new future for yourself, whether it be in your business or personal life, is the ability to innovate. Innovation begins with generating new ideas, new possibilities and new approaches.
I met a man over the holidays who is facing important life decisions after decades of working in a field that he truly loves. He spoke about the inevitable changes that he has to make, some of which include passing on the baton to a younger generation. His tears rolled down his cheeks. He is finding it painful to let go and say goodbye to all of that.
It takes courage to wake up and even more to make the changes that you have for so long been avoiding.
