Weather watch

For our mentoring program meeting this week, we held it outdoors.  Now I must confess that I was a little nervous, given how temperamental the weather has been of late.  Warm one minute, cold the next.  Sunny in the morning, wet all afternoon. 

So I came armed with a raincoat, a jacket, a shawl, an umbrella and even a towel!

At some point in the meeting, I had all three pieces of clothing on, and minutes later they were off as the sun broke through the dark clouds.  Laurie Hunt, who is leading the mentoring program,  kept us moving, we started in a circle with yoga stretches, broke into pairs and then walked around the property.  As soon as we moved, the sun would shine.

Apart from lunch under the tent, most of the meeting was spent outdoors. The ironic thing was no sooner had we packed up to go home, than the heavens opened. We all joked that perhaps because we were meeting on church property, the meeting was blessed.

However, Laurie said something that started me thinking.  She was comparing our challenges with the weather with the obstacles we can face in our businesses.

For example, I am sure most of us can admit to times when the business seemed to be under a cloud.  Nothing seemed to go well and it became quite stormy.  Now Laurie’s suggestion that day was that we were to keep moving, no matter what. 

And in a way, that’s true for our business too.  We have to walk through the storm to get to the rainbow, maybe not the pot of gold, but at least to the other side.  Because if we stay still, not only do we get very wet, but in our drenched state, it can be hard to find a solution, or to find shelter, and much easier to just give up.  We’re stuck.

By moving we are less likely to get pulled under and may on our travels, like we did, find moments of sun and we would change our direction to embrace it.  Staying with   this weather analogy, most of us came prepared for all eventualities.  When you are planning your business, you need to do the same. It’s important to have a plan B or C, for that matter, in your back pocket.  That way you bounce back quicker and  be nimble in navigating the inclement conditions.

So the moral of this story is come prepared, keep moving and be ready to take cover.