Changing Direction

Imagine that you’re on the search for a woman – somebody to be your companion, your friend, your helpmeet, to stick by your side through thick and thin, etc. And imagine that you reckon your best chances of meeting this person is at the gym. The problem: you are not gym material. In fact, it takes a significant amount of material to cover what you bring to gym each morning.

Since you’re not going to get the jock vote, you decide that your market is amongst the slightly older segment of the market – those ladies who are getting close to their sell by date. These are women who have been around the track a few times and relish the chance of meeting a man with at least the semblance of a half formed thought, and are not quite so focused on the size of your pectorals. So your game plan is to use your personality and your kind face to start building relationships, while slowly building muscle and losing weight.

About a month into the process, having begun to build relationships and enjoy a few dates with some lovely ladies who are beginning to think you’re a rather pleasant man, you bump into a personal trainer who assures you that with daily injections of insulin cocktailed with three other chemicals that will get you a life ban in most competitive sports – you, Mr Big, will transform your extraneous lipid lumps into a lifelike approximation of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3. The best part of this new regime: it will take less than a month! Instant Arnold, so to speak.

This brings a whole new perspective to your marketing. Suddenly you can turn your attention to the really fresh girls, and forego those approaching the end of their shelf-life. In doing so, of course, the wonderful folk who have been developing some faith in you get a tad disappointed, and move on. And you start from scratch in a new patch.

What on earth does this have to do with business, I hear you mutter. A lot. Like life, business is all about relationships. Those relationships take effort to develop, and take time to deepen. Instant business relationships do happen, but usually have little future – much like instant personal relationships that often require upfront payment in an hotel room rented by the hour.

The cost of changing direction, of chasing the next big thing, of trying to arrive at instant wealth is simple: you’re starting from scratch each time. That implies spending some time alone and poor. Again.

The answer, if you feel the need to change direction (again) is simple: leverage from where you are now to where you want to be next year. Do not stop the car, do a three point turn, and head back to Groot Brak. Rather look for the next exit, and take a gentle turn in the direction of Knysna. (So to speak.)

Bottom line: we’re so busy chasing the latest, bestest, newest thing that we never have time to get the benefit of the past year’s effort. We change direction just as the wind begins to blow from behind. Maybe it’s time to slow down a tad, retain the focus, and ignore the all the promises rattling around the email in-box?