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Grow & Scale A Business That Will Set You Free
The Beavers Are Busy
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. — Isaiah 43:19
I’ve noticed the beavers are at work.
It seems that spring came in the northern hemisphere last week.
Winter was a great season for us. But, for many, winter means hardship. Storms and brutal cold; grey skies, short days and long, dark nights; shoveling snow, icy roads and heating bills that seem to never end.
Things tend to lay dormant in the winter. Many in the animal kingdom hide out and hibernate.
In the people kingdom too.
Then the spring comes. New life, new energy, new hope. A reprieve; a new beginning.
And so it is in all our lives.
What we do in the springtime of our lives matters. How we till the soil; what we plant; where we plant it; how much we care.
What we build; how we build it.
The summer will surely come. And then the harvest time. It always does.
What we reap at harvest time will depend on these very moments in our lives: What we sow in the here and now will dictate the seasons yet to come.
- In our businesses and careers;
- In our networks and relationships;
- In our marriages and partnerships and families;
- In our health and fitness;
- In our financial lives;
- In the service of others.
It’s easy to be complacent in the spring, what with the weight of winter finally lifted off. But spring is a time for focus; the time to re-charge, to re-double our efforts. The seeds that we plant, the investments that we make, the care and the attention that we bring to the spring in our lives will yield a thousand fold in the soft glow of our autumn time.
Of course, the seasons of our lives don’t always correspond with Mother Nature. I surely have experienced some desperate winters in the midst of spring; and brutal heat that killed the seeds long after harvest time had come.
But the spring of the year is a good time to remind ourselves of the never-ending rhythm of things; that even in the darkest of nights, the light will return. And that when it does, we have an opportunity to begin again; to create anew; to make our lives the masterpieces they’ve always been meant to be.
Jim Rohn said, “You cannot change the seasons; but you can change yourself.”
In every moment – in every spring – we get to choose.
Wherever you are, whatever the season for you, let’s begin again.
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When you’re ready to begin, let’s connect. Email me: walt@summit-success.com
When You Come To The End Of The Road
I came to the end of the road, and stopped.
Because it was the end of the road.
I could go no further.
The North Atlantic ocean sprawled in from of me.
Waves crashing.
The sea spray an ominous green, carried on a bitter winter wind.
The retreat center on the spit.
Warm and inviting.
Cozy and quiet.
And still.
I came to be still. Because I’d come to the end of the road, and could go no further.
A necessary action. (Or inaction.) Stopping.
If you’re anything like me, you’re busy. You’ve got a lot going on.
Responsibilities. Obligations.
Jobs. Bills to pay. People to care for.
The slipstream (vortex?) of life.
The problem (coaches ought to say “challenge”) for me is that I love my work; I love the people I’m privileged to serve, and love all the things that I get to play at: running, climbing, adventuring.
Life is an action sport for me.
A lot of doing. A paucity of being.
Oh sure, I have my morning routines. My journal practice, meditation, reflective reading.
It all sounds good (sane?) until those practices themselves dissolve into the slipstream.
Then unwittingly they become still more doing.
Until I get to the end of that road.
Before the pandemic, I’d schedule regular days away at a retreat house. (A favorite the Weston Priory.)
I fell out that rhythm of things, to my detriment.
Until this month. I reclaimed that practice.
A day. Away. Away from the office; away from the house; away from the Zoom room; away from the emails, text messages, notifications and alerts; away from the din of the interweb, and the siren call of social.
When I teach meditation, I often use one of those holiday snow globes as a metaphor to describe what happens when you meditate: Life shakes up the globe; and when you sit in meditation, the flakes begin to settle.
A retreat day (a day of recollection or reflection) allows everything to settle.
You’re able to renew your clarity and focus; reconnect with your heart; and reclaim that deepest part of you.
The divine within you that calls you in the stillness.
Give yourself a day.
Be still; and know.
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I can help you find the time for you. Let’s connect. Email me: walt@summit-success.com
Be This Owl
He’s captured their hearts; grabbed their attentions; and piqued their imaginations.
Why?
Because Flaco broke free.
Flaco. The Owl. Who lived in the Central Park Zoo.
Until, a vandal cut a hole in the wire mesh of his enclosure.
And out Flaco flew.
There was a great outpour of consternation at first.
Flaco looked pretty scared and tentative.
He had a hard time with the whole flying thing.
Because after all, he’d lived in a tiny cage nearly all of his life.
He was fat, and out of shape.
And didn’t have any clue how to find food.
People worried that New York wouldn’t be kind to this wayward bird; that Flaco would get lost or hurt or die of starvation.
But within two weeks, Flaco got strong.
He flies quite well now; like an owl!
And appears quite confident; indeed, dare I say, happy.
Because Flaco in free.
And isn’t that what you want?
To break free of the drudgery, the grind, the mundane, the run-of-the-mill.
To get out from underneath the constant hustle, the debt, the hermetically sealed office, the deluge of social media, the non-stop onslaught of text messages, notifications and alerts.
To become unencumbered of responsibilities; unfettered of the expectations of others.
Unchained.
Uncaged.
Free.
Finally free.
Is that a pipe dream?
A thing that only owls get to do?
I say not!
Oh sure, you’ve got responsibilities.
A job. A family. Groceries. A house or apartment. Bills to pay.
I get it.
I was a single dad who raised three boys on his own, for a dozen years, while managing a law firm and endeavoring to keep my shit together.
But you can take small steps toward freedom;
- Carving out oases of time for yourself;
- Keeping yourself healthy and well;
- Avoiding the siren call of more stuff;
- Eschewing credit card debt;
- Taking long weekends; and mini-vacations.
And, the most important of all: create work that gives you a great life.
Way too often, I see people try to cram life into the cracks and crevices of 60 hour work weeks. Which is to say, too many people live just to work. I say, build the work – craft it mindfully and intentionally – so that it is the vehicle for your amazing life.
I say: Be Flaco.
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Being Flaco can be tough. Often it necessitates someone who can help you cut that wire mesh that holds you captive. I’ve got some great shears. Let’s talk. Email me: walt@summit-success.com
And stop by for a visit at: https://summit-success.com/
A Deadly Sin That May Be Good
I was miles into the race when she ran up behind me and matched my pace. I didn’t know her. But she clearly knew me.
“I loved your Facebook pictures from the Grand Canyon,” she said. “I envy your lifestyle.”
“Yeah, thanks, it’s pretty fine,” I gasped as I crested the hill.
She peeled off to the right.
If I hadn’t been hypoxic in the moment, I would have said more.
I would have said that envy is good.
Envy is a voicemail, a text message from your heart.
Envy tells you that there is something that is lacking, something that you want, something that your Spirit seeks, something that would bring you joy.
I would have said to her that you need to listen to your envy.
What’s it saying?
What’s not working? What needs to change? What needs to be subtracted? What needs to be added in?
What are the goals you are not attaining? What are the dreams you are not fulfilling?
Yeah, my lifestyle might be good. But what are you thirsting for? What is it that you want; that you really, really want?
Know your envy, befriend your envy, understand your envy. Deconstruct your envy. Hear its siren call.
And after you’ve snuggled with your envy for a bit, harness its energy.
Put it to work.
Too often envy can be turned inward; and become bitterness, resentment, victimhood.
Know that envy calls you higher.
Get clear. Take action. Grab hold of the life you want.
Envy is not a deadly sin. It is a gift.
Get busy. Use it.
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… and if you want help getting to that life you really want, then let’s talk. Email me at walt@summit-success.com
When The Shit Hits The Fan
It happens all time.
Things go wrong.
The car breaks down; the power fails; the basement floods.
Your key employee gets sick; the copier breaks; your computers are hacked.
What will you do?
Do you know?
Because here’s the truth: things will go wrong. The shit will hit the fan.
Finland has a government commission. Its job is to imagine everything that could go wrong. It meets once a month, and prepares for the imagined disaster: chemical spills; fuel shortages; power grid failures; natural disasters of all shapes and sizes.
A number of years ago, before 2019, the Finnish commission imagined a respiratory disease pandemic. Finland was ready for Covid.
Fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and blizzards happen with some regularity. Yet many countries, communities, and businesses are blindsided. Again and again.
Ann and I are Wilderness First Responders. Every two years, we re-certify our training. Because when we’re out in the backcountry, deep in the wilderness, high on a mountain, the consequences of not knowing what to do when things go wrong are pretty significant.
We imagine scenarios, and talk through how we’ll handle them. We keep a robust med kit in our backpacks, and in the car.
In business, we know that the computers will go down, the internet will get wonky, that the websites will get corrupted, that the SaaS will go bump in the night.
Do we like it when it happens?
Of course not.
It may throw us off our game. But it doesn’t shock us.
Because we’ve got a plan; and a process.
Because shit happens.
What can you imagine might go wrong in your biz?
What can you do to get ready?
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Growing and scaling a business means creating systems and processes that not only will make your day-to-day life much easier, but also creating systems and processes that will allow you to be prepared for when things go wrong. We can help. We have an extraordinary team of businesses coaches. Email me: walt@summit-success.com
And stop by for a visit at: https://summit-success.com/
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