It's Hard to Imagine

I was driving through the fog in 35-degree temperatures and a
forestry truck passed me. I remember thinking that the fire
danger must be zero; "It's hard to imagine that it will ever be
so hot and dry again that the fire danger will be high." But I
knew that it would be. Then I realized that when it is so hot
and dry, it will be hard to imagine it being as cold and foggy as
it is now. But I knew that it would be. This area has been
going through the same cycles since the beginning of time, and
will continue to do so until the end of time.

It occurred to me that the same could be said for many things in
life. Take your health, for example. When you are feeling well,
it's hard to imagine that you will ever have another cold; that
sore throat, stuffy nose, headaches, muscle aches. It's hard to
imagine, isn't it? I'm sorry to say this, but you undoubtedly
will have another cold. By the same token, when you are sick
it's hard to imagine feeling well again. But you probably will
be. Cycles: sick, well, sick, well. What a funny world this
is.

The same can be said for your business. When things are not
going well, it's hard to imagine prosperity, but if you stick
with it better times are bound to be around the corner. By the
same token, when things are going really well, it's hard to
imagine hard times, but don't be lulled into complacency, or they
will be upon you faster than "you can imagine".

I remember a time when I had a problem with an employee that was
draining me financially. He wasn't stealing from me, at least
not in the literal sense. But he was costing me plenty and not
producing. By the time I got it resolved I had gone from doing
pretty well to $50,000 in debt. My business credit line was
maxed out. I remember thinking that I couldn't imagine getting
out of this hole and "doing well" again. It was very
discouraging but I kept at it and, sure enough, was out of debt
sooner than I expected.

Think about that example. I said "...I had gone from doing
pretty well to $50,000 in debt." When I was "doing pretty well",
I couldn't have imagined that I would ever be in the pickle I
found myself in; namely $50,000 in debt. There are those cycles
again! Is it possible that when things were going great that I
got a little complacent, a little lazy? Very possible! Did that
complacency or laziness contribute to the decline? Probably.

The lesson is this: understand that your business, like many
things in life, will run in cycles. It's easy to get complacent
when things are great, and it's easy to get discouraged when they
are not. So don't. If you keep at it all the time you can
exploit the good times and minimize the bad. Imagine that