Do you know how to surf?
If you’d been there, you’d have enjoyed seeing my hopelessly inadequate efforts – repeated failure to even manage to stand up on the board!
There’s a sales author – Jeb Blount whose books I’d recommend to anyone working in sales. He’s a master-seller so is well positioned to be an author of books on selling. His latest? “Selling in a Crisis“.
His marketing of the book was excellent – talking about how a recent Wall Street Journal article had reported that there is “100% consensus among the CEOs of large companies that a recession is imminent“.
Blount envisages “rough seas of volatility“. And cites a stress-reduction specialist (Jon Kabat-Zinn) who says “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf “.
The common thread here? Recognition of what is outside of our control but still emphasising that there is always something within our control.
You cannot control the economy. Tax rates. Borrowing costs. Consumer sentiment. Supply of labour. Supply of natural resources. Budgetary legislation. Etc….
But you can control you.
You can change. You can improve.
I know you know this – at least in broad strokes. But how to consistently get the rubber to hit the road? How to narrow/close the gap between what you know you can do and what you actually do do?
The answer? A system. A process. Discipline. Action. Relentlessly applied.
Would you be happy if 2023 was no better than 2022? If so, great. I’m genuinely pleased for you. You obviously have a system in place that works for you.
Do you want 2023 to be better than 2022? If you ignore the luck component, and if you ignore the macroeconomic environment, what are you left with in terms of what to change?
You’re left with you.
Maybe you need to take more action.
Or to take action more intensely.
Or to consider if you’re taking the correct actions.
Your challenge? Determine what learning to surf means for you and then get to it!
PS: If you want to receive content like this in my twice-weekly email, sign up here and you’ll also get my ebook – “Get Off The Hamster Wheel: The Smart Small Business Owner’s Productivity Bible“. You’ll have it read in less than 15 minutes.