Normally, it's pretty easy for me to think of business topics that I think would be important to a good number of you that are out there. But, every now and then life teaches me a lesson that I need to remember, not just in life, but in business. This is one that I'll admit is a little embarrassing. It just happened recently. There's no hiding it. It was funny, but inconvenient. Let's talk about it.
I have a second home in Vermont and my wife and I left last Thursday morning. We were in a rush, I had pre packed most of the car. I thought we had everything we needed, drove for seven and a half hours, got up to the house with enough time to get a few ski runs before the end of the day Thursday. When I opened up the back of the van, I said, was it you, or am I the one that forgot our suitcase with all our clothes, toothbrushes, medications, and basically everything we needed to spend the next four days in our house?
In our rush to not waste any time and enjoy the full effect of being able to ski on fresh snow in Vermont, we went with everything but our clothes. Now we put all our ski clothes in our boot bags, so we got in a lot of skiing, but this was the lesson, and I've said it to so many people so many times. I should have said it to myself. Slow down, we're in a hurry.
When you're in a hurry, and you're frantic, and you're going a million miles an hour, I think we have a tendency to scramble our brains and to not think slowly enough and methodically enough to check everything off the list that needs to get done. Certainly I'm guilty of not doing that, when I departed West Chester and left. Basically everything that we needed in my bedroom. I didn't practice what I preach. I didn't slow down. I rushed. I wanted to beat the traffic around New York City. I wanted to get to the slopes. I did get to the slopes, but after three days in the same clothes, it wasn't really the effect that I was hoping for.
When you're under pressure and you feel like you've got to go faster and faster and faster, let my silly personal experience be your reminder. Slow down, we're in a hurry, and things will turn out better. Go make money. Have a great weekend.
