Given that this is the Year of The Horse, I’ve made a decision that in 2014 I need to become more visible and bring the amazing work that horses teach us into the world. It continues to amaze me how much my horses teach me about business on a daily basis. The lesson that the herd has been reinforcing this week is the power of FOCUS and clarity.
In fact the lesson only landed for me when I was chatting with one of my coaches. Last year she had come and experienced a Horse Assisted Coaching session with me, which she still raves about. When we were chatting about her experience on Sunday she reminded me that when she was leading Charlie, my race-horse I had told her “Just look where you want to go and he will follow”. Of course when she had clarity and focus Charlie followed, but when she was unclear on where she wanted to go, Charlie just took over and did his own thing, invariably eating the grass.
Wow, how like that is business. When as a business owner you lack focus. clarity and a vision of where you want to lead your business it becomes confused and like Charlie finds excuses to go off and eat grass. In fact I have observed when I lack focus my business takes on a life of its own and manages to spiral out of control. My business ends up leading me rather than the other way around. And that is not a great place to be as you become reactive to the situation around you. And this constant reacting creates stress and does not help you achieve the life-style that you want.
The only solution is to have a plan. A vision of where you want to go. You wouldn’t get into a car to drive to a meeting without knowing where you were heading. If you didn’t know the destination it is certain that you would fail and not get there. This is why having a plan in business and in life is so vital. Beware however of becoming fixated with the plan, you need to adopt a flexible approach to navigate the obstacles that will surely come up along the way. If we take the car journey example again, if you decide to drive to Scotland you will hopefully have an idea of the route you want to take but if the road is flooded you would have to deviate. To continue on blinded by the flood warnings would be a recipe for disaster.
So do you have a plan for your business and life?. Do you have a clear vision of where you are heading? If not I strongly suggest you create one. You can write out your vision, draw it, collage it, whatever works for you. I find vision boards work well for me.
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.
