During the "winter" of a recession, things are hard for most people. True, some people adapt and find ways to do just fine in spite of poor economic conditions, but for most of us, this has been a time of anxiety, doubt, and uncertainty. The banks haven't been lending. Housing prices, retirement plans and employment all took a big hit last year, and many of us have struggled with declining sales in our businesses.
But my hunch is things will look much (or at least somewhat) brighter in the months ahead. What are you doing to be sure you benefit from that?
To use a farming analogy, spring is a time for faith and hard, hard work. In much of the world, spring doesn't look very promising. Sometimes it's still cool or even cold. It rains too much, the fields may be flooded or still have snow in places. Even if the birds are coming back and the days are getting longer, when you look out the window or walk through barren fields, it doesn't look very hopeful.
And yet, it's a time to plan and work. It's a time borrow money, buy seed, tune up the tractors and tillers, and get busy! Something like that is called for in our own businesses and our own lives.
This week, we've had a crew excavating soil, trenching, pouring concrete and building a "stem wall" to support a new addition to our home. After months (years?) of dreaming and talking, we finally got down to actual planning. We talked with contractors, got estimates, and made decisions. We signed a contract and this week some hard-working guys started moving dirt, making a mess, and telling me this was all preparation for really good things down the road. In fact, they promise me that before I know it, some very nice things are going to happen!
I'm always struck by how long the "preparation" takes, compared to the actual construction. This small crew of four guys has accomplished amazing things! After talking and dreaming for months and years, these four guys moved tons of soil, leveled a slope behind our home, trenched and laid drainage pipe, built forms and poured concrete, laid block, and prepared to do the framing next week. And they did all that in four days!
For me, the lesson is obvious and rather humbling. I have dreams and "plans" for my business and my life that I've contemplated for ages. I've been waiting for the "right time" and some of these ventures have taken "forever" to get off the ground. What the crew demonstrated this week is that once I commit to ACTION, big things can happen very, very quickly.
What action have you been putting off? What dreams and hopes and "plans" have you been sitting on? Whether it concerns your business and career, your family and personal life, or your health and spirituality, NOW is the time for action.
My personal hunch is that the economists and government officials are going to tell us the "recovery is coming slowly" or that the "numbers are only starting to turn around," but like the farmer comparing what he sees on the calendar with what he sees out the window, NOW is the time to move forward.
If you invested in the stock market in early March, when things seemed darkest, you may now have a very respectable gain. In our case, it took courage and almost a sense of recklessness to go ahead with plans we've talked about for so long, but in just four days, amazing things have happened! The farmers who plant in the cold and rain of spring are most likely to have the bumper harvests in the fall.
The lesson is obvious. What are you building this year? I suspect NOW is the time to prepare. NOW is the time for action, for risk and optimism. NOW is the time to shake off the doldrums, pessimism and fear of recession in favor of action to make your dreams come true. Remember the saying, "the early bird gets the worm?" Be one of the early birds. Build your business, go after your dreams, achieve your goals. I think a year from now you'll be glad you did.
Quotes of the Week
"Follow your bliss." -- Joseph Campbell
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be one's own self." -- Montaigne
"Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one's values." -- Ayn Rand
"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Goethe
No comments:
Post a Comment