Do you feel like the wheels are starting to fall off your wagon? It’s getting close to the end of the year and I wanted to check in with you. How has 2018 been for you, the business, and maybe the family? Has it been a success, or are you starting to feel like things are falling apart?

A hard question I know – the secret to the answer is the word ‘feel’. If you feel the wheels are falling off the wagon, or are heading in that direction, there are two simple options:

1. Bury your head in the sand – and hope it all goes away; or
2. Take that simple (yet often hardest) first step – make the decision to do something different.

How do I know? I’ve done both.

Are you taking the easy or hard road?

The problem with taking the easy road is it inevitably leads to the hard road. The value of taking the hard road first is that after hard work – mental, emotional, financial, relational and physical – you finally get to the easy road.

You are most likely reading this and saying, ‘I’m already taking the hard road – how much harder does it have to get before I finally get to the easy road you speak of?’

Well it depends. If you’re simply doing what you’ve always done, then the result is no surprise. The hard road is also about changing what you’re currently doing to something different – taking a thoughtful, ordered approach. Yes it’s hard, and it’s challenging, but that’s what makes the difference when it comes to success – overcoming those challenges and growing both personally and financially along the way.

The next question I have to ask is – who is helping you head down the road?

Most of us stoically say … ‘I can figure it out myself’. Most likely internally you are thinking one of these:

I have no idea how to tackle this, maybe I need an outsider perspective.

There is no way I’m going to let others know the wheels are falling off the wagon.

I wish my advisers/family/business associates would help me take a fresh look at things.

At this point I have to tell you these little ‘trueisms’:

• Deep down we human beings simply wish we could have a real, truthful conversation, with someone who will really listen, about ‘stuff’ just to get the burden off our shoulders.
• We don’t want to feel that sense of shame when we admit ‘we don’t know enough’.

Finally, why am I asking you all these questions?

That’s simple – if no one else asks you; you’ll be too afraid to ask them of yourself. It’s called Denial or Avoidance Behaviour. It’s encapsulated in this saying about the Change Process:

“Change only occurs when the Pain of Change is exceeded by the Pain of Staying the Same. In our business we call it ‘Taking that First (hardest) Small Step to Change’.

In our Resource Area you’ll find some links to articles about banks, business plans, risk management, etc.

You might find them confronting. If you do (or even if you don’t) remember: “A problem shared is a problem halved”.

That first simple (and hardest step) might be to pick up the phone and talk to me or one of us here at ABDI.

Kind regards,

Gordon Stone