What Is Your Kernel Of Opportunity?

The answer is never working harder.
That'll just make you (more) ill. 

A client, whose company had climbed out of a covid near death spiral, reflecting back on what we did or didn't do to re find a new groove of success, noted: the answer is never 'work harder'. 

Working harder is never the answer. 

Which is a shame, because you've spent your whole life being told that working harder IS the answer, the right thing to do. 

Work harder, do well at school. 

Work harder, win new contracts. 

Work harder, rise to the top of your company tree. 

Work harder, navigate your company, your teams to more, bigger success. 

Work harder. 

There comes a time though when working harder isn't the answer at all. In the end, simply working harder will make you tired, stressed and ill. Maybe that's you how you feel now. Or your company looks. 

Judo, I'm told, is a game of reversing the question, shifting the balance, replaying the weight. Taking your opponents energy, strength and power as your own. A subtle shift opening a new door of opportunity. 

All that working harder is energy and effort, which is why it served you so well, for so long. 

But now the tank is running dry. Your tank. The company tank. Felt as a plateau, seen in a sickness. You know that working harder isn't the answer. 
A judo flip is required. A re-framing. You need to shift your weight, re-frame your question. You need to see the landscape differently.

When we slow down, we see opportunities differently. We see opportunities we've previously not seen. 

Hiding inside (you or your company) is a kernel of opportunity, something that if harnessed will make for a compelling and powerful next 20 years, freer of struggle and strain. It is a kernel percolating (do they percolate? Probably not) for the last 20 too, more or less seen or acknowledged, waiting to bloom. 

That stuckness you're feeling, the plateau you're seeing, the illness you're experiencing - all that a message from your future self that the old road is run. 
Working harder served you well. Until now. 

Now the invitation is different. Judo flip your work, your endeavour. Open a new door. 

Take a pause. 

What is your kernel of opportunity you've been ignoring? 

#leadership 
#founder 
#change 
#work 
#challenge