Enjoy the moments
Being present - Living in the now
For Christmas last year, one of our sons (We will call him Jack because that is his name) purchased tickets for my wife and I to go and see “The Imperfects” live show. This is a show loosely based around their podcast which is brilliant and I would encourage everyone to go and see it if you are able to.
There were lots of take aways from the show, but the main one that I took away was to enjoy what is going on now. Too often we worry about the past, which we cannot change” or we are worrying about what will happen in the future and we completely forget about what is happening right now. I have been guilty of this for most of my life until very recently.
Running your own small business can be very tough at times.
Sleepless nights worrying about how you are going to pay the bills or getting the work done. As a small business owner I believe we need to learn to be able to do two things. We need to learn to embrace the difficult times (and there will be plenty of those) and work out how to overcome them. We also need to learn to enjoy the good moments when they occur. In small business we worry too much about the future and forget to enjoy the small wins along the way. For me a win last week was sitting around the kitchen table with a client, discussing their business and enjoying a roast lamb lunch that the client had prepared for the meeting. It was so nice to be able to sit with them and learn more about their business, and just as importantly, more about them as people.
In the past when tough times have come in business l have had a bad habit of going back into my shell and almost becoming paralysed from taking action. With some help I have learned to tackle tough times completely differently. Now I sit down, work out why this is happening and try to work out steps to take to improve the situation and put systems in place to ensure that whatever is happening does not happen again. It is empowering and puts me back in control of my business. I can not always control the outcome, but I can certainly control my response to the outcome.
Every weekend my wife and I go for a walk along the beach for an hour rain, hail or shine. Several months ago I made the decision to leave my phone in the car while we walked. It was one of the best decisions I have made. Now when we walk I am present and attentive to all that is going on around me. I enjoy the hour, simply walking along, talking with my wife and admiring the wonderful view. I feel so much more relaxed at the end of the walk, having not been interrupted by messages or phone calls.
Why not try it next time you go for a walk?
David Patterson - Director The Bucket list Accountant