It’s that time of year, the grandiose pompous self-important post that extolls the year’s successes.
And whilst, for the most part, we had success in the year. The journey proved to be one of the hardest professionally.
And whilst I’d like to sit here and blame the other person, the reality is I was responsible for creating the situation I found myself in.
Certainly, the situation was taken advantage of and I spent half the year feeling like I was being held hostage and having to navigate problems that should never have been allowed to occur.
However, I learned several important lessons this year that I think are worth mentioning.
- Learn to ask for help. At a certain point this year i needed another voice in the room to help resolve the situation above. Nothing I was saying seemed to be being listened to because of the deteriorating relationship I had with someone. Asking a friend to step in and be impartial required a lot of humility on my part. It paid dividends in the end because it broke the impasse and is why we are where we are now, going into 2024
- Learn to surround yourself with people who know more. The lesson I learned this year is to always try and make sure there were better people in the room than me. We should always strive to learn and bringing in better-qualified people to help has helped. And again we expect there to be significant changes to the business as a result. Nothing is wrong with the people you have around you but you should always try to have someone more experienced than you to challenge you.
- I’m far more resilient than I give myself credit for. Those who know me best will tell you I’m way too open about my mental health than most but often my ability to navigate matters is better than I often project.
- I need to trust myself more on business decisions. There have been several business deals available to me this year that we walked away from for one reason or another. Time has proven me right on every occasion. And that’s despite the apparent sizeable opportunities that they appeared to be.
- Be better and faster at due diligence. Information is king and the best decisions are made when you have the right data points to look at. Sometimes situations require a bigger commitment to get to that. Having a team that can do this and give confidence in the data is critical. Don’t cut corners for the sake of it.
- Let stuff go. I’ve always had an injustice complex, routed in my childhood. This has often prevented me from moving on consciously and often meant I’ve had a desire to seek revenge or fight for the last word. Walking away from certain situations this year has helped. Fighting a point has never worked out well in the long term and learning to let go of stuff that has nothing to do with the core business has given me more time to focus on those that do.
- Just be a better human. Two of my most significant relationships in the last few years have come from asking people if they’re okay, and providing assistance where I could. The last few years have taught me that even the smallest gesture will surprise you with the results.
In reality, the year turned out to be a success. We achieved a major milestone and despite the trauma that surrounded it, it was still a significant achievement.
Taking a lot of learning from the year, we wrapped ‘23 by being more decisive and proactive about the business and its direction.
Wishing everyone the best for 2024.