Always ask the question.

 ©Copyright 2009 Ian Keightley. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward and distribute but copyright is retained. 

Hi [name] and welcome to Ian Keightley's first Weekly Insight for 2009

You always need to ask the Question

Here we are rolling in to 2009 and many of us are already back at work with new goals, new resolutions, new strategies and a renewed sense of energy, power and focus.

There is NO doubt that this year will require a full commitment to focus, skill, productive activity, with life balance and a true perspective about what is really important to YOU.

Over recent weeks with a break and time to reflect and plan we can often see things in a different light. Yes away from the pace and tasks of work we can take time to see things more clearly or that what we have doing or thinking is no longer appropriate. The next few months will require us all to make some changes, to learn new skills, to manage our attutude and thinking more positively and to decide that NOW is the time to be the very BEST that you can, at what you do, as this market DEMANDS that level of commitment and skill.

On New Year's Eve I had the fortune to be out fishing with friends off Matarangi in the Coromadel. Jacqui's daughtler Tyla came out with us was was hoping to catch her first fish. The boat was well equipped and had the latest fishfinder, ample rods, hooks and bait. Yes we had all the tools, all the equipment and the desire. Our goal was to catch fish and we had prepared. 

Once anchored we dropped our lines and as promised by the fish finder we were soon getting bites. We landed several fish and whilst some small ones had to go back we were keeping more than enough for a meal.

Alas Tyla had not yet landed a fish. She mentioned she had felt bites on her line. We suggested she wind in her line and check if she still had any bait.

To her surpise there was a fish on her hook. She had caught her first fish. The smile was worth the wait. We wondered how long the fish had been on the hook as it had almost drowned. We talked a while about the day as we cruised back to shore and the dolphions and penquins we had seen and then Tyla made an interesting statement; "If I hadn't wound in my line I wouldn't have caught the fish."

We discussed this further over the afternoon and realised that having the boat, the lines, the hooks, the bait, the fish-finder didn't catch the fish. It was asking the question by winding in the line to see what you had caught.

Is your buiness like going fishing? Is your office your boat? Maybe your marketing, your database, your newsletters, your signboards are your fishings rods, hooks and bait?

Have you asked enough questions lately to see if you have anyone on your line. Ask the question. Wind in your line and the business you have been looking for may be ready to jump into your boat.

This week be decisive. Choose to do something radical or important. The market isn't changing back to how it was. The change WILL NEED to come from YOU!       

Quote for the Week

"Character is like a tree & reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing"

 Abraham Lincoln 1809 - 1865