BUSINESS BASICS NUMBER 1
The ideal time to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp is not when you are overrun with alligators. You may have heard various versions of this simple truth. It is popular because it is a basic of business.
Just because a truth is a business basic in no way prevents us from occasionally forgetting it. Regardless of your pedigree, academics, accomplishments, brains, or experience, as members of the human race we are all fallible. Sometimes the smartest, most experienced people forget the simplest matters. You’ve seen it happen. I have too.
Alligators are a nasty reminder of that initial objective of draining the swamp. I think we would agree that there has to be a better way. The good news is there is.
Sometimes a business basic is so terribly basic that we overlook it. In this case, perhaps we should write down the initial objective:
“ Drain the swamp. ”
What is good about writing something down is that it frees up your mind to focus on competing important thoughts, without losing track of the information that you wrote down. As long as I discipline myself to go back to that documentation, I will not forget it. In this case that means I will not forget about my initial objective to drain the swamp.
Are you surrounded by too many alligators? Perhaps you need to go back to this basic of business. It has to be better than wrestling alligators, eh?
