It’s Easier To Keep With The Way It Has Always Been Done

It’s a lot easier to do everything the way it has always been done.

If we keep everything the way it’s been done before, then we know what’s going to happen. We find a groove and we keep to it, nothing is going to harm us or make us feel that slightest bit uncomfortable in our seat. Then again, we become identical to everyone else in our respective marketplaces.

The World Around Us Is The Same…What An Opportunity

My local business magazine/newspaper is a brilliant case study of a world that prefers ‘the way we do things round here.’ With articles about new appointments, business wins and people either shaking hands or my own personal favourite of individuals with phones close to their ears, proving even on camera they are the majority of the time busy.

 

 

On a more personal level I wrote an article (not for the mentioned business paper) a couple of weeks ago for a company based on achieving a national final after many years of being commended, but never reaching it to the final stage. Every year, they persevered and kept with it, rather than saying ‘we’re not going to do it this year,’ after another year of missing out. Their determination paid off and this year they have made it to the grand final. But rather than promoting the spirit of doggedness and drive, they wanted it the way that the majority of companies want to be seen within the press in terms of ‘we just want others to read how good we are.’

The Safety Blanket Around Us

Many businesses want to be packaged the way that everyone else is or where the road has always lead. The tried and tested routes are the safety blankets that we all want to feel warm and reassured by. If we can state to everyone else that our businesses excel at customer service or outstanding results, then we’re just the same as everyone else.

In the words from the world champion of individualism Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

Technology has now meant that we can shape our own paths and have a greater opportunity for others to see our point of view and our perception of the world.  The platforms available have meant that we have a greater opportunity to build a dialogue with an audience who believe in what we stand for. Ideas have now become currency and innovation becomes rewarded. Our greatest reward is for others to understand that we don’t fit a particular ready-made formula but will stick by us, warm to us and help us make profitable action.

Facing Our Fears

Sometimes the only thing that can push us forward is fear itself. To have failed and nearly lost my business, brings the bleakest of moments to face and look head on, but if we can rise up when we falter and look for a different way of doing things, has to be one of the biggest lessons anyone can learn. If the safety net is taken away and you’re left to fend for yourself, you begin to see the world from a different perspective. For instance, going back to the beginning of this article and to read the local business magazine with how well all companies featured are doing, is a vehicle to feed ego and self congratulation, rather than as a means to be entertaining, inspiring and informative.

I’m going to finish off with another quote from Mr. Emerson, who sums everything up perfectly with, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Be good to share how you have championed taking another path from one that has become well tread and the once lush green grass is now nothing more than a muddy pathway.