A month or so ago, I attended the SCORRE conference, a life changing experience. I wrote about one morning when I went running, and how some of those lessons crossed over to business.
This morning on my run, I had a grateful moment, hearkening back to my run down the long country road. I’d been living under the impression that I ran a 10 minute mile. But as I ran the three mile route in 39 minutes, I soon realized that my ten minutes was actually 13. (Cue the demise of my long distance running career.)
I could’ve forgotten that information. I could’ve convinced myself that I still ran a ten minute mile. But that wouldn’t have been helpful. Or truthful.
Because when the time came for me to race, the finish line would’ve been farther away than what I trained for. I would’ve expected it at 30 minutes, only to have to push myself nine more minutes.
Living blissfully unaware of realities in our lives is no way to live. We can’t camp on assumptions. We can’t grow our businesses on wishful thinking. We can’t improve or measure our improvement when we’re happy in fairy land.
It may not be fun to assess yourself or your business with actual data, but it’s the only way to have a realistic picture of now in order to grow for the future.
In my business as a writer, I see some realities I’d rather pretend aren’t there. Things like sales numbers for one. If they are ever going to grow, I have to know how much I’ve sold and how much I’d like to sell with my next book. I can’t wallow in the numbers. I can lament for a moment, but then it’s time to be proactive. (I covet your advice on growing my book sales!)
The fun news is that I’m running faster now, no longer running 13 minute miles. I’m not at ten minutes, but I’m improving through practice, practice, practice. And it feels good. It feels right.
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