Recently, I had a busier-than-normal week planned, and looking at all those color-coded entries on my calendar made me sit back and smile. It wasn’t too long ago that my calendar was a bit thin and only one color. That had to change, and change it soon did. Looking back, four years ago this month, I was putting together ideas and a business plan to start a series of new community publications — these Family Life magazines. After spending my entire adult life in some facet of the publishing business, I had learned quite a bit about what was required from a team to make it work. Maintaining a positive attitude, living within one’s means, and seizing opportunities when they arise are three of those lessons.
Another lesson we all must learn is how to embrace failure; use it as a tool for growth, wisdom and a platform for structure and strength. Success is often built on a series of small failures. The big idea is usually only the push to get you going, and sometimes, that may put us face-down on the ground. Then, through inspired determination, we dust ourselves off and forge ahead — lesson learned, and that is always a positive thing.
We have so much going on in our lives that it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to not get caught up in what we are doing and forget what our goals are. If we keep turning our negatives into positives, much in the same way photographers did back in the darkroom days, we may not always end up where we intended, but we will always end up on the plus side.
to your business!