Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A Life or Death Struggle

My son and I were sitting in our car observing a life or death struggle. On the windshield of the car was a small fruit fly doing its best to fly through the glass to "escape" the trap it was in.

The ironic thing - less than 12 inches away was an open window. But, the fly could only see the freedom on the other side of the glass. Sometimes the answer is not "working harder." No matter how hard that fly tries, it will not be able to fly through the windshield. But, with a simple change in focus, its success would be easy to achieve.

This reminded me of so many people who become so focused on what they perceive to be their path to success, that they miss the real opportunities.

After observing for a few minutes, my son decided he had enough. So, he took a piece of paper, and tried to "help" the fly find the window. What did the fly do? Went around the paper and continued on the path it was sure would lead to freedom, but in fact lead only to destruction.

Sometimes people have a different perspective than we do, and can see paths that will lead to success we may not even be aware are there. If we do not trust their experience, or perspective, we may miss the real opportunities. It is important to remember that the successful franchisees and DAs in your market may have another path that will help you succeed. Your Regional Business Developer may see, from their perspective, a path that will help you succeed.

Make sure you are not so focused on your activities that you miss the real opportunities.