Employment
The Complacency Coach
Leading into the New Year
By Bruce Outridge
I
t’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone already. It seems like yesterday I was just planning the goals for the current year and it has already passed. I sometimes wonder where I am on my own current slide of evolution. Have I grown, have I slid backwards? Am I making a difference? These are questions that should go through your mind as a business owner – at least on an annual basis, but hopefully more frequently than that. As I have mentioned in the past, a business owner needs to be always on their game and should have a pulse on their business every quarter or semi annually at least. What I’m talking about is more on the personal side of growth. Are you where you want to be in your
44 December 2012
life? As I look back over my career it is funny to see how it has laid itself out, and whether I had anything to do with it or not. I am enjoying entrepreneurship and would like to take the credit that I steered my career in a certain direction to attain certain milestones. But the fact is that I didn’t have as much to do with it as I would like to think. When I changed career paths or jobs it wasn’t always by choice - like the time I said I wanted to be out of the truck doing something else by the time I was 45 years old. That happened at 43, but not by my grand design. Things happened at my employer’s that made me quit, and voila, here I am. Or how about the time I decided to haul freight for the moving business? Sure, it may have been a well thought out plan, but in reality I just wasn’t making the money I wanted moving furniture with my truck. So I sold my ownership in the company. Yeah, a well thought out plan. So what I am getting at here is that once in a while it is good to stop and take stock of your life and where you are.
The goals I had at 30 and 40 have changed now that I am almost hitting 50. Certain opportunities have come and gone and others have presented themselves nicely, but at the end of the day I am where I want to be. We’ll get into writing goals and related stuff in future columns, but note that the grand design you have for your life may not
come to fruition in the manner that you thought. Maybe you thought you would be driving that big rig by now but instead are still looking for work. Maybe you’re ready for a change but aren’t sure how to make that break. That may not be in your control, or maybe you’re not ready and your gut is telling you so. You have to put in the
effort, but in the end the control may be beyond your grasp. All you can do is work towards your goal and hope that you keep the train going along the track you wished for. The cards will either fall into place or get scattered like a ‘52 pickup, but at least you will have done the work. Take stock, enjoy your holiday season and get set
for a strong year ahead. I wish you well. About the Author Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant with over 30 years experience in the transportation industry and is the author of the book Running By The Mile. His book and more information are available on his website at www.outridge. ca.
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