On the last day of a recent trip to Honolulu, cool, onshore winds stoked dark clouds and a morning-long torrential rainstorm. Before the rain started, I went for a run and watched several teenage boys boogie-boarding on Waikiki beach. (I expected to see surfers but later learned that the rough ocean and crazy current are terrible conditions for all but kite surfing.)
When you watch surfers, you get into the rhythm of the ocean and start to feel the boogie-borders’ connection to the sea. They’re expectant but meditative waiting for what might be the perfect wave. From your vantage on the shore, you see the conditions differently. But the guys on the boogie boards know the signs and the feel that will constitute the best conditions. The perfect wave.
While I couldn’t see exactly what was happening out in the waves, I did notice that one guy was going for it a lot more often. He was opportunistic. He took chances. He rode a lot more waves than the others. Some turned into aborted runs. But many appeared to be wonderfully satisfying.
The same rhythm happens with business development. You go for it
Here’s my question for you and your team. Are you waiting for perfect conditions? Or are you looking for opportunities to go for it? Do you know the conditions that you deem acceptable? Do you have your antenna alert for “good enough” conditions? Are you getting into the rhythms? Or hanging back, stalling?
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