Good morning! It’s great to be here with all of you. It always is – but especially today.
Another chapter begins for our chapter.
And there’s opportunity all over it.
Last week we took a look at Powerful Endings. Naturally, today it seemed fitting to talk about beginnings. There are two components that stand out for me as worth including in the discussion – brand new beginnings, as in, “for the first time.” And reinvention – creating a new beginning at any moment within an existing entity – a relationship, project, team, organization, etc.
So firstly, as we’ve heard many times, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” And Rachel Levin, if I recall correctly, you’ve taught us that a first impression gets formed in about seven seconds.
So when it comes to our business, we want to be intentional about how we conduct ourselves – arriving on time, if not early; being prepared, both with information, and that we’re set up to both share and receive with whomever we’re meeting with or working with.
Consider the difference it makes whether or not we show up with our needs met. For example, being hungry, tired, angry, or in a hurry. It may actually be noticed directly by the person on the other side of the meeting or conversation. And even if it isn’t, it can keep us from making the impression we’re committed to.
So it’s good to keep an eye not only on how we’re dressed on the outside, but the qualities we’re bringing – and how we’re being – from the inside.
As for the other piece, there are times when something is generally working but we realize that in some way it’s still falling short of what we need or how it could go, or what might be best. It could be in a professional or personal relationship, in a project, or pursuit of a goal. In fact, it’s perfectly exemplified here in this new beginning.
While we may have differing opinions about what worked and what didn’t in our previous home, there wasn’t anything inherently wrong. Nothing that stopped us from coming together every week, connecting, growing, and closing a ton of business. If the location hadn’t closed, we might even still be there.
And yet, given where we’ve thought to go, where we’ve been poised to go, there were a few gaps. So when this becomes clear – again, feel free to look through the lens of your business, relationship, current goals – what do you do?
Do you knock it to the ground and start from scratch? Do you quit and walk away? Well not if most of it is working. That doesn’t make sense. And for those of us looking at our relationships, professional or otherwise, it doesn’t make sense there either.
The thing to do is reinvent. Keep all of the things that work. The people, the processes, the structures. And recreate the rest. In the advertising world it would be called “new and improved,” but that’s been so overused it barely registers.
Think of reinvention like a lobster molting out of its shell. Pressure builds and there’s a subtle discomfort. Eventually it gets in the way of growth, progress, complete success. And so the lobster sheds, but only the hard constricting surface layer. The rest moves on – a little tender at first, maybe a little sensitive from the new experience, but also more malleable and more effective. And ultimately set up for larger growth.
I’m grateful to be present this morning with all of you – right here, right now.
We’re on the threshold of this new beginning. And there is possibility all around us.
Are you ready?
