- Image by Thorsten Thees via Flickr
It was a muggy, grey day with bursts of rain showers. As the day progressed the storms rolled in with a fury. I heard the crack of thunder in the sky and looked out to see lightning piercing the dark clouds. The winds picked up, the trees began to sway and within minutes the room was plunged into darkness.
I sat in a room that had everything needed for light yet it was dark. Without a power source the lights were of no use.
To have light you must have equipment connected to a power source but even then you are required to activate it by turning on a switch.
How many of us start a business, or a new venture and fail to activate the resources that would produce light? We have a great plan, all the equipment and resources, and the knowledge needed but fail to flip the switch. Or perhaps we’ve done the opposite and activated but forgotten to plug into the power source. The end result is the same – you’re in the dark.
Earlier this year, I stumbled in my business. I had lights, bulbs and I was plugged into the circuit box but darkness surrounded me. I had failed to activate the switch. In fact I was trying to light the wrong room! After bumping into furniture, I finally got the picture.
Don’t stumble in the dark, plug into your power source and activate the switch. I promise you it’s much better than groping around in the dark.
How about you have you ever bumped your head in the dark? What did you learn?
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Brad, I have been there, in the wrong room, flipping what I thought was the on switch, you name it. I can honestly say that it all worked together to help me truly find that laser beam of light that I was supposed to follow. Like Fred’s neighbor allow me to beam the light in your window – “the lights go out sometimes, but they come back on.” 🙂
Fred, I am so glad I wrote this post or I would have missed that story. Your neighbor is such wonderful model of how easy it is to help someone through the darkness, sometimes we’re called to turn on the light for them and other times we just need to remind them it won’t always be dark. Good memories indeed.
Karen, Thought provoking post, as usual. My problem at the moment seems to be not being able to find the switch, the right buttons to push, whatever you want to call it.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..Business Theory in Process – The Uncertaintly Paradox =-.
You’ve reminded me of something that happened when we first moved into our neighborhood. Power went out during the night in our first week in a new home. I don’t know why it woke us up, but as we stumbled about trying to call the power company a bright flashlight shown in our bay window. It startled us, to say the least. It kept coming back to our window, and then there was a knock at the door. We had just moved from a less safe place to a more safe place, but our thought process was still in the area of less safe at 3 a.m.. But looking out the front door, it was a neighbor we had already met with his flashlight now pointed at his face. A kindly old gentleman who was the knowledge keeper for the neighborhood. “Don’t worry, power went out, Happens some times. All’s well,” he whispered and walked off.
It’s comforting to know there are people in the world who will reach out, even when the power’s out, to remind you that things are ok. I like the way you’ve connected this to business. Whether you’ve forgotten to turn on the lights (or are sitting around with your eyes closed) there always seems to be someone willing to help find the answer to your needs. My first client was someone who heard we were getting something started and he gave us a project. Made us work for it so we would feel good about ourselves, wouldn’t of given it to us if we had been idiots. But he knew what it was like to start out and planned to throw us a bone to help out.
Good memories can come from those stormy nights.
.-= Fred H Schlegel´s last blog ..Tackling the Uncertainty Paradox – An Introduction =-.