What do 18 mo old swimming lessons have to do with your business?

It’s almost spring and all of our friends are having their kids get refresher swim lessons... so what does that have to do with you and your business... well let’s jump on in. Good afternoon friends, Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose.

I was on the phone the other day with a good friend and client, Stephen Page with Guild Mortgage here in Bluffton and we were just catching up on life. We went through the normal routine of wives, work, and kids and he started telling me about his 18 mo old daughter taking swim lessons.

He was obviously a proud dad as he said he sat there and watched his daughter, who started walking a few months ago and who was now jumping into the pool, spinning around and getting back to the side.

At 18 months old! 

And he said something that struck me... He said, “It’s amazing all the things she’s capable of at such a young age. I guess she just needed the opportunity to do it!”

We hung up, but that thought went round and round in my head. “I guess she just needed the opportunity to do it.”

How often can that be said in our own businesses? How often are we holding back the people we’re responsible for from growth, from succeeding, or from accomplishing new things?

One of the questions Scott has started asking me in our weekly onboarding time is this. “What do I need to let go of so you can continue to grow in your role?” 

He seriously asks me that every week. What does he need to let go of, what is he holding onto too tightly, that is keeping me from growing in my role. Because his desire is to have team members that are owning their roles, growing daily and weekly, and never staying stagnant. 

You see he realizes an important thing when it comes to managing us... our team can only ever maximize its potential if he’s willing to let go of things and allow me to fail, then learn, then grow, then accomplish. And maybe along the way we realize that I and the rest of our team are way more capable than we ever realized!

The second thing I wanted to point out is how this mindset of limiting our capabilities is actually crippling our businesses performance as a whole. 

Think about this... how often do we dream about what might be in our business? How often do we say, “I wonder if we could grow to that?” Or, “What if we could do this in addition to what we’re already doing?” 

So often, our lack of dreaming and courage is the only thing holding us back from growth! That’s why in our 12 week planning, we always have a future section. We want to keep track of ideas that will challenge us and not limit our possibilities. We want to push ourselves to a place of knowing our limits. Maybe it doesn’t work out, but at least it won’t be for lack of vision.

It’s what is so powerful about the 12 week plan. Let’s figure out 3 important things that need to be done, or 3 areas of growth over the next 12 weeks, and then put action steps, a real plan in place, in order to accomplish it. 

That’s what being a business owner is all about. Empowering your employees, pushing them to grow and realize their potential...and then putting a plan in place for your business to continue growing for years to come. 

Don’t wait on this! You can accomplish so much more than you realize you’re capable of. If we can help you put a plan in place or help you equip your employees, reach out to us. We’d love to run alongside you.

Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and our podcast for more amazing content we release every few days. Have a great weekend!