Following last week’s post, I realized I needed to make one clarification and add a companion concept.
Another Way
You may need to keep moving forward so that a single insurmountable obstacle does not jeopardize your entire endeavor. Sometimes, you need to flow like a river and navigate around obstructions.
An entrepreneur told me he has been unsuccessful in obtaining the $1 million investment he needs to execute his business plan. After confirming that he had taken all reasonably correct steps to find an equity investment, I suggested that the universe is saying investors are not attracted to his company in its current state.
However, the absence of investors is not necessarily a sign that he should give up on his company, but a signal that he should accept the message and redirect his efforts, the proverbial “pivot.” Pursuing a plan with fewer capital needs (bootstrapping) and seeking alternative capital sources (debt and grants) is a much better use of his time and effort.
Pivoting can be appropriate, but it should not become a means of avoidance. You cannot succumb to the never-ending optimism that the correct answer is just around the corner, which prevents you from making a necessary decision.
During the years between the change in business conditions and the sale of my business, I attempted a succession of potential solutions – probably too many for too long. However, I acknowledge that the process brought me to a place of acceptance, which permitted the decision to sell.
Don’t Stop
It is the simple premise that if you continue moving forward, you will arrive at your destination. When there are no impediments besides time and toil, failure results from quitting – the definition of failure.
One of my mantras is a cycling reference, “Keep pedaling.” As you probably know from my previous bragging (and I repeat for my ego’s continued nourishment), I have cycled up a categorized mountain in each of cycling’s three grand tours. During the climbs, I kept repeating my mantra because I knew the mountains would eventually run out of elevation if I kept pedaling.
Recently, I met a 65-year-old woman who has a 5th-degree black belt in Karate. When I asked her about her quickness, flexibility, and movements, she responded that her accomplishment was more the result of perseverance than any physical attribute. Yes, she had developed special physical skills, but the key was sticking to the training program for 14 years. She said most people have the physical capacity and only need to add the ten to fifteen years of required training.
Too frequently, we have the capability but lack the sustained effort. What have you started and stopped that just needed continued labor? Did you write the first three chapters of a book and put down the pen? Start the professional certification program and stop halfway through? Start a foreign language course and quit after learning how to say, “Where is the bathroom?” Keep pedaling is an extension of the discipline message.
Time and effort do not guarantee success, but prolonged, consistent action is often the determining factor. Edison instructed us, “Genius is 2% inspiration and 99% perspiration” (not 1%). To keep pedaling, you may need to release expectations about pace. Remember, the tortoise proved that the hare’s sporadic, rapid pace is not superior to consistency.
__________________________________________________
When you are on the right path pursuing the right objective, keep pedaling. If you encounter a blocked road, detour to an open one. It is in these cases, Winston Churchill proclaimed, “never give in.”
