In all things, we can only ever move forwards. As we all know, we cannot travel backward in time- even if we turn left or right- from the moment we make that turn, we still move forwards. Even when we think our lives are standing still, we are still moving forward in both time and our purpose. It’s just at that moment. Our purpose dictates that we should rest a moment.
“And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet.” – St. Marher, 1225
The above is the earliest known form of the commonly used quote, “Time waits for no man.” It’s a quote that we often pay lip service to. Still, when you think about it, it’s completely true because regardless of any human actions -intentional or otherwise- time moves forward at the same pace as before, and likewise, so does our purpose.
As leaders and entrepreneurs, our instinct is almost always to jump forward first, go where only angels and mountain goats are prepared to tread, and often we find that standing still or slowing down is very boring or alien to us. And this is because it’s in our creed always to be moving forward, seeking new challenges, progressing new ideas. People may find our focuses to be fleeting or, in some way, scatterbrained, but it’s more that we process our ideas and concepts so fast that we’ve seen it all grow in our heads already. We’ve taken those steps forward in our minds before everything else has had the chance to catch up to us.
This week, take a moment to do two things:
One must ensure that in your drive to focus on the future and keep adding products and services to your bag. You have not skipped on quality and learning from past products. Make sure that you have the patience and reflectivity to really allow a product to settle and evaluate it before moving ahead to a new idea. This helps us see what is working, what is flawed, and what people respond to.
The second thing is to equally not dwell on past failures and make them your mantra. Sometimes things are not failed. They need a tweak, so keep your spirits high this new year and focus on what can be done in the future with the lessons you have learned.
It is the balance of these two things in the time that makes a business work.
