Monday, 10.40pm
Sheffield, U.K.
Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it’s about having a lot of options. – Chris Rock
I’ve only been fishing once in my life.
It didn’t go well.
The good thing was that I didn’t catch anything – if I had I’m not entirely sure what I would have done as I don’t really like fish.
I also got stuck.
I was by myself, at the edge of a small pond. I cast my line and it hooked onto the bushes on the other side of the pond.
So there I was, with a borrowed rod in my hands, deep water in front of me and a stuck line.
I resigned myself to having to wait for a few hours till someone who know what they were doing came and rescued me.
Then, after a while, I figured out that I could just put my rod down, walk around the pond and get my line free.
So then I was back to the casting and the failing to catch anything.
So, I am not a reliable source of fishing knowledge.
But, the idea of fishing is interesting when it comes to what you do with your life.
And it boils down to having options.
If you’re sat at the edge of the water with a single line then you’ll catch the occasional fish.
If, on the other hand, you’re like the French anglers we come across on vacation – the ones who park their caravan at the edge of the canal and set out a dozen rods – you’re going to catch more than your fair share.
One of them came across to us once and gave us a dozen fish – he just had too many for his family to have.
And that’s a good model – to have many lines in the water.
If you’re marketing your business you need to use all the channels you can – from cold calling, direct mail, referrals, advertising – everything that you can economically and competently do.
If you’re trying to get promoted you need to try your hand at different tasks, multiple areas of need – because doing more than just the one thing you’re paid to do is what results in a lucky break.
The point is that there is never really one true way to do something.
There are a multitude of possibilities and the more you can explore the better your chances of finding the one that works for you.
You can also put up with a lot more when you have options – it makes it much easier to deal with demanding situations and bosses when you know there is something else you’re also working on.
It’s a simple picture really – having one line versus having several.
We’ve just got to make sure we get on with getting them set up.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 