Our new employee started last week, Chandra, and we’re mighty pleased to have her. I’ll be introducing you to her soon, and no doubt putting her up on the website as well.
The problem with having a new employee is that they don’t yet know anything. The ‘yet’ part means that Holly and I get to spend time training her. This is really critical, important, team-building, heart-centered, momentum-gathering time.
Unfortunately there is a second “yet”. The second “yet” is that it takes time to train someone. It takes time out of my regular schedule, and everything else slows down.
For instance, because of a scheduling goof, my wife is not going to be training Chandra this afternoon on our mailroom/fulfillment center (yes, I know we could outsource the fulfillment, but we like having it inhouse, for a number of reasons. That would be another good blog post, eh?)- instead, I’m going to continue her training on our autoresponder/article distribution details.
Which is actually good, since I started her on that Monday, and we can keep momentum going.
The problem that brought in the second “yet” is that I usually write next week’s article by Thursday morning. And it’s Wednesday. And I don’t have an article. Yet. (the third “yet”).
Where do we get an article suddenly?
Well, I guess I get to let go of my perfectionism. I don’t have an article ready to go in my brain/heart yet. (third “yet” reprise.) So, I’m going to do something I’m getting used to doing: letting myself off the hook.
I’ll have her do a dry run training with an old article, I’ll write my article by tomorrow morning, and let our VA, who is backing us up, post the new one.
Why am I telling you all of this?
One of the big recurring themes at Heart of Business, which is a recurring theme throughout business in general, is mercy and compassion. Basically, our minds come up with how things are supposed to go, which rarely are connected to reality.
You can try to ‘think your way through’, trying to bend reality to your will, and end up broke and exhausted like many people who try that. Or you can relax in mercy and compassion.
Ahhh… mercy and compassion.
(Incidentally, if you’re on our email list, then you saw the article this morning on why your client should always come last. Yes, the blog and the email newsletter are different.)
What are you pushing in your business, and where could you use some mercy and compassion? And, will you realize that the world won’t fall apart if you do?
4 Responses
i really liked this article especially how you correlated it with the principles of compassion and mercy. very helpful to see real life examples of accepting reality and dealing with it.
thanks mark.
@Char- thanks! I’m glad you liked it, and I’m glad you dropped by and let me know. These yets are, as of yet, still unfolding… 🙂
Hey Mark, thanks for this post… and for your article on grief and… I didn’t realise the blog is different! You are very clever. You really do a lot in a week. I am glad you are also compassionate with yourself 🙂
@Yollan- You’re welcome. Yes, I try to do something a little different with the blog. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by. I hope you subscribe to the blog, too, if it’s helpful.