The choice that winter brings

This month’s ‘lesson of the month’ article in our November edition of Water Matters, is more of a ‘reminder of the month’ rather than a new lesson. With my thoughts turning to the winter months ahead of us and Coronavirus continuing to bring an outlook of doom and gloom over the months ahead, I have been thinking about the challenges that winter is going to bring to so many people this year.

Already a time of year that many people struggle with, it’s concerning to think of the impact of this lockdown situation during November & December. When unlike our previous experience of it back in the spring, when we had some of the warmest weather the UK has seen in years and people could enjoy their gardens and work on their tan for 3 months, the same situation in November and December is a completely different story. Dark mornings, dark nights, rain, cold, frost, cooped up indoors… it's a very different prospect to the situation we were in back in April & May.

These thoughts reminded me of something I heard Tony Robbins say when I attended his ‘Unleash the Power Within’ event back in 2015. He was talking about a “financial winter” in terms of the economy, and how we’re continually on a cycle and whether we like it or not, we were going to be facing a “financial winter” at some point in our future. He used the following phrase to highlight that if we take personal responsibility for the situation we’re in, then we can still make the most of any situation - positive or negative.

“Some people freeze to death in the middle of winter. Other people learn to ski and snowboard. It really comes down to what you are going to do.” 

I found it a powerful metaphor - I must have done, it’s stayed with me for 5 years and my memory usually only goes back a few months! 

The personal choice that comes with winter, at some level, is as simple as that. You can either freeze to death, or you can learn to ski. 

Of course, as timing would have it right now, we’re surely facing not only the prospect of a very tough winter locked indoors. Perhaps without being allowed to see family & friends and spend time with our loved ones, and almost definitely not allowed to enjoy festive drinks with our family, friends, colleagues and customers past 10pm in any pubs or bars around the country! But we’re also facing the “financial winter” that Tony was referring to when I heard him speak back in 2015. Financial winter is certainly upon most of us. Especially in those industries who have extremely limited ways of operating right now. Many of whom are much worse than the construction industry that we’re all blessed to be in. 

So, how do you feel about the winter? 

What will you choose to do? 

Whether metaphorically in terms of your finances and your business, or quite literally in terms of how you spend the next few months of winter. Will you choose to freeze, or will you learn to ski? How much you enjoy the next few months will really come down to what you are going to do.