Want to Build Your Business? Turn and Face the Wind

Why is change so hard? Why do we so willingly keep moving in the wrong direction even when we know the longer we wait, the harder the return trip will be?

I faced this very dilemma last February, while attending a client conference in beautiful Amelia Island. Now for those not familiar with a north Florida winter, it can be downright cold. Maybe not Duluth, Minn., cold, but cold enough to need every piece of fleece I jammed into my suitcase.

My wife, Robyn, and I looked out at the bright sunshine from our balcony and decided there was no way we could miss walking on the beach we had admired for the last two days. So we went.

Bundled up and ready, we started our excursion with several marginally successful selfies (I’m still working on that skill) and then began a pleasant stroll with the brisk wind at our backs. After around 20 minutes, we decided to head back, but we quickly realized that turning around meant facing a wind that would redden our cheeks and chap our lips in mere minutes.

So we did the smart thing. We kept walking farther down the beach.

We fully realized that every step we took was moving us away from our ultimate destination and would cause us to face the brutal wind for even longer. But at that moment, we didn’t care.

You will be relieved to know that we did eventually turn around and lived to write about it, but the moment was not lost on me.

It made me wonder how often I do that in business. How often do I maintain an unproductive habit, fail to deal with a tough situation or ignore the discipline needed to make a big and needed change?

I’m sure it is way more than I’m willing to admit here, but I will say that as our company grows and our team faces the challenges of more people and physical distance between us, if we don’t change we will ultimately fail.

Not because we are doing anything wrong, but because the winds of change are blowing at our backs and the longer we wait to face them, the further from achieving our next goals we will be.

One example is this blog post and a commitment to practicing what we preach by posting more often and with greater purpose – something we already do for our clients.

We must also be better at staying up to date in our project management software, tracking hours more efficiently and taking the time to update projects daily.

It won’t be easy, but we have our Chapstick out and are ready to face the cold.

What do you need to face in your business? We would love to hear about it.