Remember why you started.
A couple years ago I went shopping online for a new bag to hold my “stuff”. The backpack I had been lugging around was wearing out, and I was looking for something dual purpose – personal and professional in one versatile vessel - since I carried my work with me wherever I went. Home with me every evening. And every weekend. Along for family vacations. And for weekends at the lake. And even for summer trips with my girlfriends. I was carrying a lot, and I needed a new bag to hold it all.
Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t suffering. I loved my team, and I loved my job. It was important to me to work hard and succeed professionally, and my efforts as a leader filled my cup. I was choosing what to carry, and I was fully aware of that. It was a choice I had been making with purpose for years. Not only did I love it, the grind was worth it. I was doing it for my family, for my daughters who were looking up to me. I was proud to do whatever it took to support the most important people in my life.
But I was also becoming aware of the impact my long hours and stress level were having on those same people I was grinding to support. And I wasn’t proud of that. The work that was supposed to be for them was causing me to miss dinner with them almost as often as I was showing up for it. I clearly wasn’t always prioritizing what mattered most to me, it looked more like I was sacrificing it. Like I was starting to forget the point. So, when I bought my new bag, I had it engraved with a reminder to myself. Every time I pulled my laptop out of my bag, I read the words…
Remember why you started.
If the work was still serving that purpose, I was on track. But if I read that omnipresent sentence and realized my focus had moved away from the reason I started in the first place, I knew it was time to adjust. Which I did… many times over. Hey - that’s why I had it carved into leather versus frosted on a cupcake. I was self-aware enough to know my habits weren’t going to be easily overcome. Looking back now, I think a tattoo might have been a more fitting match to my workaholic tendencies.
Two years after engraving that reminder, I said goodbye to the company and team I had been pouring so much of my time and energy into, and I started Page One. The other day, I was on my way out the door for a client meeting, and the words on my bag caught my eye. It struck me that I had been saying them often in my new day to day, so often that they were becoming a slogan of sorts for the business. But I hadn’t consciously connected them to my own journey until that moment. I know my story is not unique - we all lose track of the point at times and need to be reminded. And not only when it comes to balancing personal and professional priorities. In leadership - and in business - we are presented with daily opportunities to…
Remember why we started.
Do any of these sound like a snapshot from your life?
You started your own business because you love what you do – you’re an outstanding contractor, salesperson, coach, networking guru, marketing pro, etc. And the business you started became successful because you are great at what you do. But you find yourself spending most of your time doing things that drain your energy - responding to emails, paying bills, booking appointments, figuring out IT issues, the list goes on and on. Lately, something in the back of your mind keeps asking…
Why did you start?A report hits your inbox. You and 15 other people receive it every month. You have never found it useful, and you usually hit delete without even opening the attachment. But this month, you decide to learn more about it and make sure you aren’t missing something. You call the guy who sends it and ask him what the report is used for. He says he doesn’t know. You ask him who uses it. He says he doesn’t know. You ask him how long it takes him to put together. He says it is tedious work and usually takes a full day to complete. He spends an entire day creating something that may or may not be used by anyone - every. single. month. - why…? Because he always has. You feel compelled to inspire him to dig in further and find out if anyone finds his report useful. So, you ask him…
Why did you start?Your calendar is ‘the boss of you’. You show up for meeting after meeting because they are on your calendar. You don’t have time for connections you wish you were making, and during most of the recurring meetings you attend, you find yourself wondering…
Why did we start?You have been with an organization for six months and are starting to get the lay of the land. You love most of what you do every day, but there is one thing you’ve come to dread. You play a small part in a critical monthly process that should be simple, but the program used for it is not intuitive, and it feels like you are relearning it every time. The software was purchased two years ago specifically for this process. There are countless people involved every month, it seems to impact everyone in the organization, and there is a universal distaste for the clunkiness and inefficiency of the tool that was chosen. You’ve come to understand that making changes to alleviate the pain points would be difficult because customizations were made during implementation to allow the program to be used for an unrelated process that it isn’t designed for. Those customizations are the reason the program isn’t intuitive and drives the entire company to curse at their computers every time they use it. You make a mental note for the next time you make a decision related to a process or system change. You remind yourself to pause and ask…
Why did we start?You want to purchase a new piece of equipment that will shorten the time it takes your team to complete projects, allowing you to serve more customers than you are able to today. The only problem is, it seems like you are bleeding cash lately. It doesn’t seem possible to fork out even more to buy it. Determined to find a way to make the investment, you dig into your expenses and are reminded of the huge lease payment for the piece of equipment sitting idle in your backlot. Your team hasn’t used it in a year and a half, and you’re on the hook for another two years of payments. It was never very useful for the work that your business is known for, and it is so expensive. As you stare at the payment that is tying up the cash you need, you remember signing that lease and making those first payments and ask yourself…
Why did we start?
It turns out, we probably don’t need to have it engraved (or tattooed) on anything. It is in front of us every day, we just need to look up from the grind every so often and…
Remember why you started.