Tale 11: "I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done" - Buddha
I always do my best to remember this quote
from Buddha, particularly when I get snowed under,
or overwhelmed with work.
This quote always brings me back to reality.
Let me tell you why...
Fifteen years ago we owned a small chain
of furniture and homeware stores in Sydney.
The business was demanding on many levels,
with plenty of pressure. We were constantly busy with co-ordinating the furniture
production on the manufacturing side of the business, along with selling the furniture
in our retail stores. And then of course, there was the furniture delivery service
too.
It was non stop.
We were very lucky to have the support of
my parents at the time. Mainly moral support, but they certainly played a critical
mentoring role.
My parents, particularly Mum, were great,
full of encouragement, and they kept us focused too.
I can clearly remember one particular day.
It was a one of those days where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong...
You know those days...
On this day we were expecting a huge delivery
of furniture from the factory, and of course, it was well and truly late.
Worse, because the factory was rushing to
mean the deadline, the entire shipment that arrived was badly finished.
To say that I was very disappointed was
an understatement. And stressed!
We were due to commence delivering to our
customers within the hour. Our delivery drivers were waiting, and already on the
clock.
Looking at the furniture, there were fifteen
pieces of furniture that needed to be retouched, I totally lost it...
I started to yell and complain about the
state of the furniture. "This is crazy Mum, we have to retouch the lot, all
fifteen pieces, and we don't have time!" I yelled. "Look at the dispatch
area! It's full of deliveries! We are so far behind with the delivery schedule,
we'll never be able to deliver any of this on time!"
In a very calm tone my Mother asked me,
"So Son, which piece of furniture shall we get done first?"
Now I know my Mum was deliberately ignoring
my yelling, my stress, and my out of control sense of urgency, but that didn't stop
my tirade. Everything spilled out at that point. All the things I still needed to
do. All the things that were going wrong. All the things that other people had done
wrong. All the things that I knew were going to happen now that everything had gone
so wrong...
I'm not sure how long I was whinging and
complaining for. Quite a while I imagine.
And all through that time my Mum was amazing.
Looking back on that day I can recognise
that Mum felt all those stresses and worries too. And on top of that, she was subjected
to all of my stresses and fears as well.
But here's the difference...
My Mother chose not to be in the same emotional
state that I was in.
This was what she said that brought me back
to my senses. "My little one, at this moment don't worry about what has been
done. I understand that you are very upset because of what the factory has delivered
today. We can deal with the factory latter. What we need to focus on right now is
how to get the rest of delivery out to the customers' home. So keep calm, and focus
on what really matters... what remains to be done".
On that day she knew what needed to be done
to get us out of trouble. She never focused on what had been done, she only saw
what really remained to be done. Mum was right about the delivery too. Although
our delivery was running late we managed to inform all our customers about the delay
and they were quite understanding. And we did complete all the delivery runs on
the day, late, but everyone received thier furniture.
So that was my story about the quote. Now
I would like to share with you how this quote has changed my way of thinking, and how I run our
business. You can apply these tips into your own business too of course.
Here are some of the tips:
Don't make excuses or keep complaining about things that block the way in your life and business. Instead, find solutions to the problem and fix them.
Don't make excuses or keep complaining about things that block the way in your life and business. Instead, find solutions to the problem and fix them.
The amount of time we spent on making excuses,
complaining and whinging could better off invested into solving the problem. Whinging
and complaining are time wasters, and they definitely won't move you forward to achieve your goals and dreams.
As your own boss no one's there to hold
you accountable except yourself. Sometimes it's easy to procrastinate and not to
follow through all the important tasks in your business.
So have a list of things to do each day that will
keep you on track for what you are trying to achieve.
Set regular purpose goals and review each one regularly.
Plan your 90 days activities planner so you know which task to focus on.
Be honest with yourself
by acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. Know where you are and own the situation. Ask for help too.
Focus on the "NOW". Don't delve on the past.
Focus on the "NOW". Don't delve on the past.
Once you do this you
will embrace changes to your life and business and will be looking for solutions,
or getting people to help you with your business.
Tune in for next week the
finale tale Series 1... "Frog In The Well"
More Tales My Mother Told Me...
Volume 1:
Volume 1:
Tale 2: "Your Mind is Powerful"
Tale 4: "Being Compassionate"
Tale 6: "The Magic Pen"
Tale 8: "Confidence & Competence"
Tale 11:"I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done"
Tale 12: "Frog In The Well"
Tale 12: "Frog In The Well"
Volume 2:
Tale 3: Talking about army on paper.
Tale 4: Being Persistent
Tale 5: A Poet’s Writing Skills Decline
