Seth Godin wrote a great piece today entitled ‘Winning on the Uphills‘. He argues that the time to do things is when the going gets tough. That way you get the maximum impact from your action. I couldn’t agree more.
However, I think the bit that he left out, and the bit that truly separates amazing businesses (and people) from just good ones is that for an amazing business there are no downhills. It is all uphill.
Just because you are beating your targets, you are outstripping your competition on all your key metrics, or you have just been promoted doesn’t mean you sit back and relax, enjoy the downhill run for a while, and wait till you have to tackle the next big climb.
Some examples of great climbers that spring to mind:
- As Apple reached the crest of the MP3 player hill, dominating the market (actually it’s still climbing that one by releasing new models, just not as fast) they didn’t stop. They turned and began climbing the mobile phone hill. You can also bet they are already well into the preparation for the next climb.
- 37signals took their hill climbing technique from enabling project management and applied it to storing contacts, live chat, and organising your business. They even tackled a book somewhere in there.
- Closer to home those cheeky folk at 42Below were only just starting up the Everest sized mountain that is the international vodka market when they took on a couple more hills for good measure: bottled water and gin.
Climbing hurts, but climbing is when you make big gains, and really break through. Keep climbing, and learn to love the climb, there are no downhills.
Pic of the cyclist digging deep from JaymezB on flickr.
