Now Moments, Part 1

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed." - Corita Kent

Is today's business environment wearing you out, making you wish you had never risked so much to start up or remain in your business? While going to work for someone else in an undemanding, unchallenging, yet stable job may seem tempting, you know you were made for more than that. Let's see if we can help you get back some of that energy you had when you first started your business journey.

What if your life was someone else's? What I mean is, if someone other than you stepped into your life, starting today, would they manage it any differently than you do? Would that person take care of your family as well as you do? Would they approach your job, your clients, and your challenges in the same way that you do? A fun exercise is to imagine how well a famous person would do at your job for just one day. Imagine Sylvester Stallone answering your next sales call, Bono dealing with one of your customer complaints, or Condoleezza Rice negotiating your next important deal. Would they mess up your beautiful approach, or is it possible their unique perspective would derive something new from each situation?

While I've never thought of playing the role of Condi or Rocky with any of my customers, I am ashamed to tell you that I did play the part of Bill Murray's character from Ghostbusters...once... with one of the customers in my electronics business about 20 years ago! He was a well-to-do doctor who was having a full-out tantrum over the way his car alarm was malfunctioning, and, after listening to him rant for what seemed like an eternity, I cracked. Channeling my favorite Ghostbusters' character, the irreverent "Dr. Peter Venkman", I turned to his wife while her husband was still rambling and deadpanned, "Was he an abused child?" It's true, I acted even more childish than my customer did by delivering a movie line in the midst of a serious situation, but the situation got funnier still. While the doctor continued his rant uninterrupted and totally oblivious to my comment, his wife answered me in total sincerity and in her best New York accent, saying, "Why, no... he came from a very good family." Life imitating art. It surprises even me that these two people eventually became some of my dearest friends, but only after I was able to remove the ghosts from their machine. It was also the last time I channeled a fictional character to conduct my business for me. Or was it? Hmmm.

What do you have to work with Now?

Let's get back to what you may be going through now. Some problems and challenges last so long that we think they are the rule instead of the exception. What if we could give these kinds of problems a fresh look, perhaps through the eyes of an outsider who is not so emotionally attached to the long-term pain of what's still not working? It is my belief that when we approach something for the first time, or in the NOW, we begin by seeing the opportunities, not the problems or challenges.

In the NOW, problems and challenges seem like nothing more than flies in the ointment. A few years ago, after retiring from my company, I was called back in to resurrect lagging sales and dwindling resources. I left the business when it was firing on all cylinders and returned to more problems and challenges than I could count. Significant market and industry changes, coupled with some mismanagement, also required us to redefine the company's mission and purpose. I'm not sure if it was due to the length of time I had been away or the mood I was in that Autumn morning, but I had an epiphany. I stood out in front of that store with my manager, and instead of thinking about what we didn't have, I accidentally asked, "So, what do we have to work with NOW?"

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities disguised as impossible situations." - Charles R. Swindoll

That NOW MOMENT back in the late 1990s, not only interrupted my negative pattern of focusing only on how bad things were, it also evoked a litany of answers for creating future success- in the form of resources, assets, and opportunities- that being in that particular business in that particular moment in time offered us. For one, we had hundreds of customers whose names, addresses, and buying habits we knew. We had a lease that was paid up until the end of the month. The lights were still on- for another 3 weeks. We had dealer agreements and relationships with our suppliers that allowed us to connect customers with the products and solutions they needed, either NOW and in the future. In the NOW MOMENT, everything was an opportunity.

"The best thing about the future is it only comes one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

What do you have available to you NOW? In whatever business or job you are in, I encourage you to step off the merry-go-round of daily demands long enough to take a NOW MOMENT. And don't just get off to immerse yourself in some mind numbing or escapist behavior, only to have to return to the pain of your job or business in an even foggier condition than when you left. When you take a real NOW moment, stop all of your busyness, assess your surroundings and assets, and then ask yourself these three questions:

1. "What do I have to work with right NOW?"
2. "What is the best use of these resources?"
3. "What could I do today that would take full advantage of these, to the benefit of my customers, my partners, and my family?"

Many years and many market fluctuations, challenges, and flat-out disasters later, that business is still "in business," while many others have gone extinct. I didn't even need an actor or a stunt double to take my place! Why not begin right NOW to secure your future today by embracing your own NOW MOMENTS? If you do, I'm convinced that the solutions to the challenges you are facing NOW will not only become readily apparent, but you will be able to enjoy each and ever person you meet while on the road to your next level of success.

Tiger Todd

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