It’s healthy to work off steam by doing things that demand one’s complete attention and focus – downhill skiing, tennis, white-water rafting – not allowing any other problematic thoughts to enter the mind, other than how to navigate the next mogul or rapid, or how to return the opponent’s serve.
Gardening doesn’t readily fall into that category – unless you make it an extreme event. I’ve had a small garden plot sitting on our property for nearly 20 years. It started out as a vegetable/berry garden, became a mole battlefield, then an English wildflower and herb garden, then …nothing, but hard clay. The soil became worn out and nothing wanted to grow. I had too many other things going on anyway, so I decided (rationalized) that this was now an experiment. I would pop whatever came along into the garden – neighbors removing plants, bushes, hostess gifts – and wish them luck. I’d provide initial potting soil, fertilizer, and water, but otherwise they’re on their own along with Mother Nature to make a go of it.
That’s how the experimental garden came to be. It was survival of the fittest and empirical evidence of what could grow in that underdeveloped environment. The lavenders, heathers, sages. barberry, poppies, hydrangea, and exotic grasses showed their mettle, along with a lone lily named “Doug”, the most unlikely survivor amongst all those hardy bushes and ground cover.
What’s the point? Every species needs to concentrate just to survive each day. Sometimes we take that for granted, both as individuals and in our business. Every day we need to apply the same focus and concentration it takes to stay in the game, on the slopes or at the net, to making our business survive and grow, often without having all the right stuff in place. The hardy species figure it out, and do the best they with what they have to allow their roots to take hold and their buds to bloom, even when the watering (capital), fertilizing (resources), sun/shade (intellect), weeding (competitive advantage), and introduction of new plants (innovation) aren’t all there to help.
The garden may look a bit hodge-podge, but after building a drainage duct, a rock pond, and pathway that trisect it into three sub-plots, it has taken shape. What is there has survived and come back bigger and tougher every year – by figuring out what works.
Prolifiq has survived and taken root in the market by figuring out what works for our customers, focusing on simplifying sales content management, and looking out for new opportunities, in a very capital efficient manner. The experiment worked – time to invest.