2017 was an amazing year. Legion executed a complete turnaround from the dark days of 2016 and found ourselves, in December, celebrating the best year we’ve ever had, by miles.
It was exhilarating. Tony and I were high-fiving daily, and also stopping to wonder at the company we’d created and how far we’d come in only 18 months. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt stronger or more capable as a business owner.
But like all good things, 2017 had to come to an end. And with it, my certainty about my ability to run Legion like a BOSS vanished into thin air. I’ve spent the first two weeks of the year casting about for reassurance that last year wasn’t a fluke, a lucky break, an anomaly. And frankly, I haven’t come up with much.
For sure, there were a few events in 2017 (an especially strong hurricane season, for instance) that helped us to that record year. And I don’t expect this summer and early fall to be the same. But I do want us to keep carrying forward that momentum and work to make 2018 as good as we can.
I just don’t know how. I’ve never had to do this before. Turnarounds I can do – I can dig in, roll up my sleeves, tackle the big problems, stay positive and push until we’re successful. What I’ve never done before is convert one great year into a series of them. I want to prove that I can, that I know how to run a consistently successful business.
So I guess the big project this year is me. I have to roll up my sleeves, tackle the problem of my own insecurities and doubt, stay positive and push until I’M successful. Legion has all the tools and processes and systems it needs. I just have to keep steering us in the right direction. I have to keep eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, and a strong faith in my own abilities.
It’s going to be a tough job. But I’m good at those.
Author’s note: As usual, when I’m faced with these kinds of challenges, I ask the people I respect most for help, and suggestions, for how they deal with these situations. Here’s what they had to say:
- Change your environment. Go on vacation, switch up your workspace, do something to shake yourself out of a rut.
- Take a Clarity Break. For more on this, Google “EOS Clarity Break.”
- Listen to something inspiring or motivational. One suggestion was Oprah’s Super Soul podcast.
- Read a book. Some that I’m working through right now – Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink, Tools of the Titans by Tim Ferriss, and Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark Winters.
- Read those books in a nice hotel, alone, combining the change of environment with the input of motivation.
- Get out in nature, and hike. Preferably with a friend you can talk to about what’s going on. Movement plus nature equals major soul-soothing and space for introspection.
- Create something. Anything. Lots of things. Doesn’t even have to be something you are good at, just the act of creating can help your mind transform things, and might transform your soul in the process.
I feel like any one of those, done regularly, will help me. So I’m going to try them all and see what helps the most.
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