As Spring breaks, the days get longer and daffodils begin to blossom I am reminded of the first time I learnt about the concept of expansion and contraction from Chris Attwood at the Masters Gathering in San Diego in June 2009. In essence what Chris said is that at every point in life there are expansion and contraction points. Just think of the seasons. Spring and Summer are the seasons of expansion (growth and development) whilst Autumn and Winter are seasons of contraction (of slowing down and resting). Just like the Ying Yang one can’t exist without the other and so it is in business.
There are times when your business flourishes and grows and times when it stagnates (to recuperate and rest). The challenge for most of us is when the contraction happens we give up, but this is just one of nature’s cycles. Roger Hamilton summarises this analogy in his book “Wink”. There is a season for planting and a season for reaping. Furthermore, he goes on to discuss the Law of Gestation. The seeds you plant must be given time to develop and mature before you can harvest them. How often in business do we get impatient and reap too early? I know I do. So as we move into Spring consider your business life cycle and make sure you don’t pull up your seeds before they are ready.
Recently I have been rather busy and not paying my lovely ponies Bracken and Thistle the attention they deserve. I’m been rushing, never stopping – acting in an expansive state. The one sure thing that Thistle has been teaching me is to slow down and wait. What I cause the pause. She does this by stopping when I lead her to the field. She just plants her feet and refuses to move until I slow down. The more I try to encourage her forward the more stubborn she becomes. I now realise if I pause (take a breath) and wait she will then move forward. So leading her has become a game – like the ebb and flow of the sea.
All too often in life out of desire for instantaneous results and goal orientation means that we fail to pause. To survey what is around us and reflect on what is happening. Thistle has been teaching me the value of this because it is in the pause that great magic can occur. How and when will you pause today?
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
