TCFBO #063: A Walk In The Park - Part Two

Read Time: 4 minutes

Carrying on from last week’s article about our two day’s of hill walking in the Peak District National Park, here are three more key considerations which are just as applicable to tackling the business terrain as they are to hiking in the hills.

Key Consideration 3:

When you learn from others, make sure you still pay attention to your intuition.

The Peak District is a popular area for hill walkers so, before we left, we were able to find plenty of routes online that aligned with our goals of two days of challenging walks, at least two ascents, and a distance of 11 miles or more for each walk.

The routes we selected had been written by someone who had done the walks previously and gave an indication of how long each walk would take, landmarks and navigation points.

This gave us a certain degree of confidence that we could complete it.

However, when you are taking advice from someone it is worth remembering the person giving you advice…

…may have different skills and abilities to you

…may assume you know more than you do

…may not realise that the advice they are giving is open to interpretation

…may inadvertently miss out key pieces of information.

A few times on the walks the guidance we had was unclear and we ended up on the wrong path.

When this happened it often just “felt” like we were heading the wrong way.

Our intuition was giving us a head’s up!

So we’d stop, check the map and use the compass to verify our position, and then correct our course.

Sometimes this would mean retracing our steps back to where we’d gone off track.

Other times it meant continuing forward in a different direction to rejoin the original path.

It didn’t matter how we got back on track, the key thing was that by paying attention to our intuition we were able to quickly identify when we had drifted off course, adjust and get back on track.

Key Consideration 4:

Break your plan into stages.

When we were planning the routes to walk, both had been split into stages giving an indication of how much distance would be covered in each stage.

As we progressed along the route, having these stages allowed us to figure out roughly how fast we were walking.

And, as we described in Key Consideration 1 last week, this enabled us to decide at the midpoint whether we had enough time to complete the walk before we lost the light.

Also, when we first started off on Day One there were a few variables that were unknown.

We didn’t know how fast we would be able to walk.

We didn’t know how well we would be able to tackle the terrain with our current levels of fitness.

We didn’t know how well marked the route would be and how challenging it would be to navigate.

In fact, it would be fair to say that when we first started we had more than a slight degree of uncertainty!

However, breaking the plan into stages gave us a feeling of accomplishment and success as we completed each stage of the walk.

And that emotional boost encouraged us to keep going.

Which is why we divided each stage of the walk into even smaller chunks.

Because by regularly achieving lots of small things, we cultivated a mindset of achievement.

And so throughout the walk we were giving our minds more and more evidence that we could do what we set out to do, until completing the walk became inevitable.

Key Consideration 5:

Take a moment to appreciate your surroundings, what you’ve already accomplished and how far you’ve come.

As we progressed along the paths we would regularly stop and just take in the view.

We’d look towards our next destination.

And we’d also take a moment to look back at where we’d come from.

And it was often surprising to realise just how far we had come.

That ascent that appeared so steep was now behind us.

That summit that looked so daunting was now under our feet.

That path that looked so long at the time was now a mere fraction of the overall journey.

Once again, we were feeding our minds with evidence of what we were capable of.

Which in turn increased our confidence and level of certainty that we could and would complete what we set out achieve.

So here’s a summary of the five key considerations:

1) Use the Triple Constraint throughout your projects to help identify what, if anything, needs adjusting…and be willing to adapt as necessary.

2) Whenever you’re facing challenges, remember to regularly pause, look up and check you are still heading in the right direction.

3) When you learn from others, make sure you still pay attention to your intuition.

4) Break your plan into stages.

5) Take a moment to appreciate your surroundings, what you’ve already accomplished and how far you’ve come.

As we wrap up on the parallels between hiking and navigating the business terrain, we’d encourage you to consider how each of these can be applied within your own business.

Are there strategies you need to adapt based on real-time feedback?

Are you continuing to focus on your vision even when tackling challenges?

Are there areas where your intuition might be signalling a need for course correction?

How effectively are you breaking down larger goals into manageable stages?

When was the last time you stopped to appreciate how far you and your team have come?

If you take the time to reflect on these considerations regularly, you’ll enhance the chances that your business not only survives but thrives, as you adapt and grow through every challenge you face.

Let us know how you get on and we’ll see you next week.

Paul & Philly

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