The sheer relentlessness of what you’ve to face in business

You’re a realist. You’re in business. And you know it’s not easy.

Those marketing pieces you’ll see sometimes with attractive people on the beach with their laptops? Creating their empires from anywhere with an internet connection? You know that’s all bullshit.

Being in business is hard work. Anyone who claims differently is either being fraudulent or delusional – or perhaps simply isn’t trying hard enough.

One night recently, before closing down the laptop, I spent a few minutes thinking about what to do the next day – and in what sequence to do it.

That few minutes is my penultimate task each day. It lets the subconscious do its stuff overnight. And it allows me to sit down each morning and know immediately what’s next without any thinking being required.

And typically it’s energising. I’m being proactive. I’m planning. I’m steering. I’m not just reacting to what’s in front of me.

But to be honest, that night was a little different.

I think I was just dwelling on the relentlessness of it all. The one task that hadn’t gotten done that day was being carried over. And a lot of others were stacked up for after that one.

It reminded me of a poem I did long ago in English – a Shakespeare sonnet. The first 4 lines have always stayed with me:

Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

The poem’s not about business. It’s about our transience. But the image of the relentlessness of the waves was what was in my head – each wave being another bloody task to be completed.

Does that feeling ever strike you? Or perhaps you’re one of the vanishingly small number of people who are immune to it? 🙂

But you know something?

It’s ok.

It’s ok not to be dancing with joy at the prospect of another day of the grind.

Success requires us to work through times like this.

And what helps?

Having a clear purpose is one thing – knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing. That’s however a topic for another day.

Something else that helps is for you not to feel alone. One way to remedy that is to join a mastermind group – something I offer here in Kilkenny. But at a lower price point I also offer an Accountability service – and one of its advantages is that it can be delivered remotely so it doesn’t matter where in the world you are.

Are you accountable to someone for getting things done in your business? Do they encourage you? Are they reliable? Do they use a clearly defined process so that you know exactly what to expect? Are your interactions with them regular? Positive?