“It doesn’t pay to worry. If you went through last year’s files marked “important”, chances are the only things you’d keep are the paper clips.” – Robert Orben
What keeps you up at night? There’s a laundry list of things leaders can lay awake worrying about if they choose. Markets, people, products, customers, technology, civil unrest, the environment, the list goes on and on. It sometimes feels like there is a potential disaster around every corner.
It’s important to think about the future, and as we approach the end of another year, plenty of people will be telling us to do just that. But how much of our thinking about the future is really worrying about the future?
When you think about what 2025 might look like for your business, do you think about what can go wrong and get short of breath? Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of leaders do. They essentially brainstorm threats to the business, and then hope none of them come to pass. Not very productive.
A much better way to think about 2025 is to consider what could go wrong and right, and then figure out what you’re actually going to do about the most critical of those things. Just sitting there worrying accomplishes nothing. We need to take action.
Before you dive into that, stop for a moment and reread the suggestion in the previous paragraph. Notice I said “good” things that could happen. Yes, some good things will happen. Despite the gloom and doom we’re bombarded with from every direction, good things are happening and that will continue. How will we make the most of those good things?
Also notice the words “most critical”. You cannot possibly address every single good or bad thing that can happen during the year. You don’t have the time or the energy or the resources to take advantage of every opportunity, nor can you protect yourself from every potential threat. You need to have priorities.
What is really most important to your business? What possibilities would have the biggest impact? What key factors are really driving your success? Take time to really identify what matters, and what’s going to matter over the next year.
It doesn’t do any good to focus solely on what’s negative, nor does it do any good to worry without action. Think about the possibilities, and then get to work. Happy 2025.
