Facing an incredible sight along the rugged South Australian coastline from his cliff-top viewing deck, Jason had turned his back to the precariously perched parking lot and didn’t notice that the cherry-red Porsche 911 he had proudly driven out of the showroom less than 5 hours earlier was slowly rolling backwards… picking up speed… and then broke through the small wooden barrier…
“F*CK!! … The HANDBRAKE! … The f*cking HANDBRAKE!!” he screamed as he heard the sound, turned, stood motionless, legs frozen in terror… Then suddenly he broke into a sprint, but it was too late… Red blurred over the edge… it turned slightly in the air… and crashed loudly on the merciless black rocks below.
Pieces of debri rocked back and forth in the waves.
A few loose pages of meeting notes hovered briefly in the air then scattered amongst the rocks.
An onlooker slowly came over, looking nervously back and forth from the tangled mess below to Jason on the cliff’s edge.
“Sh*t mate, that’s a shocker… But you’re insured, right?”
After a long moment of breathless silence, Jason quietly answered without looking at the man: “Yes… yes I am.”
And the onlooker cheerily answered: “Well, she’ll be right then mate. Do you want a lift somewhere?”
Jason’s head was swimming… “She’ll be right? … She’ll be right???”. He now slowly turned his head to look at the man. His mind replaying all the many times he’d used and heard this phrase. In a micro-moment, he had thought about how his business was suffering because of the inactive, care-free “she’ll be right” attitude, and realised he didn’t WANT the she’ll-be-right attitude anymore… No, rather than being distracted and lazily letting life happen — the good and the really fricking bad — Jason made a decision in that moment to become more focussed, make better decisions and choose a different personal culture.
“No… thank you… I’d rather walk.”
I know you get this already… You’re not as slow to catch on as me, right?
The “don’t worry, be happy”, “whatever happens, happens”, “que sera, sera” or “she’ll be right” attitude can make things pretty damn comfortable in life, but when you’re looking for growth in your business, comfort is a luxury you can’t afford. What you need is to totally CRUSH IT.
So when IS it time to relax, take the handbrake off, look the other way and let it roll? … It’s when you’re happy to let it crash down into the rocky sea of “holy sh*t!”… And I’d say that’s about NEVER, right?
So here are some ideas to remember…
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Choose a culture, a pathway and a mindset that drives your business forward (hint: it may not be your local or family or best friends’ culture).
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Take control of your assets — your website, content, branding — and keep improving them so they bring you customers you’ll love (learn to do it yourself or get a digital brand “mechanic”).
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Surround yourself with a team of business “driving instructors” who keep you on track, focussed, motivated and moving forward.