3rd in a short series - Eyes Wide Open Whilst Leaping

Requires a more stout-hearted sort of courage

It took years for me to develop the courage to leap with my eyes open. If I thought it was frightening to move between was was to what I wanted…with my eyes closed … it was decidedly scarier to take the same move with full sight. Full sight. Calculating the risks. Taking full notice of the potential pitfalls. Seeing the obstacles and, while not knowing with any precision that I could round them, at least I knew where a few of them were.

In a peculiar twist on the success narrative so popular in our culture, the harder action in my business life was stopping, not starting. I learned that lesson later than would have been advisable. I led a modest production art studio in the industry of greeting cards. I shared a tiny niche in a market dominated by three major greeting card manufacturers. It would have been helpful had I understood that bigger is not always better. I followed the Pied Piper of growing and outgrowing a facility and then outgrowing that facility.

Just because you can expand, doesn’t mean you should.

The jump to stop growing wasn’t at first, a choice I consciously made. It was a reality thrust upon me by the unexpected cancellation of a gigantic order, followed by a national crisis on September 11, 2001. By this time, the enchantment of the anthem, “I Hope You Dance” played to a wearied dancer. The harshness of that time, punctuated by a raft of undeniably poor decisions, led to a stopping point that stopped me in my learning tracks.

Knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing when to start.