For the past several months I have been nursing a shoulder injury. I am accustomed to working through pain but this was different. My mobility has been limited and the pain was so bad, I spent many nights unable to sleep. Life was not going to stop, I still needed to run a business and no way was I not working out, so I found ways around it.
Below are 5 things my shoulder injury taught me about business:
- Each part contributes to the whole. If one part is injured or not functioning well, even if seemingly has nothing to do with the other parts, the whole is affected. You are forced to fix the injury or adjust to accommodate the dysfunction.
- When function is off, focus on form. I could not jump out of bed each morning and crank out push-ups to wake me up. My morning routine and my workouts changed as I focused on form rather than the limited function of my shoulder. I became more aware of doing things well than the volume of reps.
- Innovation. Ideally, I would have loved to just “fix” the injury but it was not that simple. This is also true in business. However, I could not stop working or working out until my shoulder healed, instead I had to get creative. In finding creative ways to continue with life I also discovered new things I like to do.
- Patience. We cannot always barrel through a problem or obstacle, sometimes we have to wait it out. Not easy to do but the waiting does not have to be in vain. As I waited (and continue to wait) for total recovery, I expanded my focus and worked on things that had fallen off my radar.
- Humility. A few times I was brought to tears my searing pain from a wrong movement. Talk about being humbled! Some days I had to take time from work or shorten a workout but life did not fall apart as a result of my humanity.
I have not enjoyed being injured but in many ways I have emerged stronger. In the same way, a problem or breakdown in your business or on your job does not have to be terminal. Often problems can expose gaps or areas of neglect and in the end you not only heal the injury but the whole.
How about you? Have you ever been injured? How did it change you?