#FPF – Week 12
A woman and her husband sit at the kitchen table. The wife looks out the window at the neighbor across the street hanging up her laundry. “Look at that laundry” she says. “So dull and dingy… It’s a shame no one ever taught her how to do her wash the right way…” The husband looks up from his plate of eggs at the line of clothes and after a few moments goes back to eating.
[The woman continued hating on her neighbor’s laundry skills for the remainder of that week]
The following Monday, the woman joins her husband at the table and looks out the window to see the same neighbor hanging up a new load of laundry. “Oh wow!” the woman says to her husband “Looks like Sharon finally learned how to properly clean her laundry!” The husband let out a brief chuckle to himself, adding a fresh heap of eggs to his fork. “What’s so funny?” she asked.
[The man looked up from his plate and paused, smirking at his wife]
“What?” she says more sternly. “I woke up early this morning…” her husband explains. “…and cleaned the windows…”
[The woman paused for a moment and looked out at her neighbor once more]
“oh…” realizing what the true cause of the “dirty” laundry was.
The point of this story? Your perception of the world around you is directly related to the environment you are in (or in this case – the window you are looking out of…)
As business people, we often get so caught up in what our competitors are doing, that we waste valuable energy (that could be used to grow and expand our own organization) hating on our competition.
Negativity Has No Value…
In business or otherwise: nada, zip, zilch, zero, nothing… If you’re constantly aware of what key performance indicators (kpi’s) help grow your business – identifying and limiting those things that don’t drive revenue, then it should be inherently obvious that if negativity has no value to your organization/clients/
I Have No Competition…
This sounds smug I know, but honestly, when it comes to how we approach our day to day operations at Captivation, as well as how we interact with current/potential clients – we never bring up what another business in our space is doing. Considering most of our client relationships come from referrals, if you’re working with us (or considering working with us), there’s a very specific reason for it. The last thing I would want to do is put a “competitor’s” name/product/service in your head when you weren’t thinking about them to begin with…
Granted, there are people that wake up every day who’s soul purpose in life is to put you out of business, so it’s important for you as an owner/upper-level manager to be aware of what the current landscape looks like, but the last thing you want to do is give your clients/customer (or even your staff for that matter) an inkling of greener pastures somewhere else. Just don’t do it.
Focus on Your Strengths and What Makes You Great
I really encourage you this week to take a close look at your daily interactions and identify opportunities to swap vinegar for honey. Go all in on YOUR strengths and what makes you great as a company and remove the “other guy” from your vocabulary.
Hope you have a great weekend and a positive week ahead!
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