On my Friday afternoon country road rides with my mother-in-law, there is a stretch of road that we encounter that is dead straight and seems to run off into the future as far as the eye can see; connecting to a powerful sky of restless clouds.  I always stop and ponder this site.  You lose sight of the road due to some small dips but eventually the hills that follow the valleys bring the road back into sight.  I relate this to life–plenty of ups and down and many twists, turns, and detours, but eventually the goal is to return to the straight path and follow this road into eternity.

This site also makes me think of the many business enterprises in commercial design and construction I have worked with over the years.  It is easy to lose sight of the road ahead with the many hills, valleys, and obstacles in our industry.  We also are greatly tempted to turn right or left along the way in search of greener fields, more exciting roads, different products, increased revenue and profitability, perhaps looking for that perfect customer or that elusive paved road that leads us to the top of the mountain of success.  Sometimes turning right or left and leaving the straight road makes good business sense, sometimes it leads us to an ending corn field, where another turn, right or left, has to be made.  Oftentimes these turns can be mistaken for progress–you are continuously moving but are you moving forward?  

Eventually, we must all have a defined straight road to which we can return.  A core that we are comfortable with, an everyday stream of business that we understand and that we can whittle away on, making it better and better, adding more pieces that fit, reaching more into that unknown audience of waiting customers.  We will all take a turn or two in life and in business, that is only normal and can serve as an eye opener and a collector of ideas, as well as provide us with some important lessons learned.  Take those paths, gather all the corn and beans you can, take in the differering road markers, and then return to the main road and focus on that skinny road way out in the future that seems to be fading into a reaching sky.

There is one road sign on one of our many paths that warns slow moving travelers like us of a “Hidden Entrance.”  I always smile when I read that sign, thinking that maybe it would have been easier to just trim the trees and the weeds that hid that small entrance over the hills and then it wouldn’t be so hidden.  This sign is followed by a “One Lane Bridge” sign a bit further down the road, which I always find odd in that the width of the road we are traveling does not differ when crossing the small man-made bridge.  I mention these two signs to remind us all that when we are traveling the side roads to be sure and read all the signs, learn from them, obey them, expand on them, and use them when we once again return to our main road.  There are important business-saving lessons to be learned regardless of which road we are on in life.  Keep that thought in mind.

This is a short week, take a few exciting turns and I will see you back on the main road next week.  We are traveling deeper into the third quarter, are we all on the right road–with life and business?  Is the ending in clear sight, straight ahead or do we need to pivot right or left or possibly take a U turn?  Do we see all the exits and entrances ahead in our path or are some of them hidden?

Let us all take Matthew Kelly’s words to heart as we finish out the year.  “Whether you are sixteen or sixty, the rest of your life is ahead of you.  You cannot change one moment of your past, but you can change your whole future.  Now is your time.”

WBEDC

Ron