Companies, brands and regions are overnight successes, preferably. But more often than not they are overnight failures.
Essentially life happens gradually, then suddenly.
Gradually because it’s the small things done consistently, every day, that mean we either succeed or fail; opportunities are missed or taken, customers are looked after or ignored, staff are engaged or become disenchanted, a region is nurtured and taken care of or neglected and exploited.
But we don’t always notice when things are going awry because we still have profit, and profit can disguise many sins.
It’s the old ’building the frog’ analogy; put a frog in a pot and heat it slowly and the frog won’t jump out even when the water’s boiling which isn’t very good for the frog.
But then all of a sudden the profit runs out and the business falls over.
Of course it didn’t happen suddenly, you just suddenly noticed.
On the flip side success doesn’t happen overnight either; it’s the small things done consistently well, every day, that might not seem to be paying off at the time, that lead to it.
Then all of a sudden profits explode and your company is an overnight success that took ten years to develop.
This is how life works, and while people focus on the ‘suddenly’ part that’s not how it happens.
It comes back to playing the long game and knowing exactly what we’re aiming for.
Success is gradual, and gradual is critically important because it’s the only part you can do something about.
I have never resonated with the word ‘balance.’ It sounds too mediocre, too ‘little bit of everything done not that great.’
When I wash clothes, I leave the light on in the laundry room so I can’t forget about a wet load of washing in the machine.