Doesn’t it suck when things that have worked forever, suddenly stop working for you?
Our apartment came with a fridge that I swear was the exact same fridge I grew up with as a kid (same color and everything)! It was one of those old school ones with vertical doors where the freezer was on one side and the refrigerator on the other side. This tank of an appliance was going to outlive me – I was sure of it.
And it worked great! Until one day, it didn’t.
Yes, it was running just fine. But it had stopped working for us.
Now that we had kids, we were buying much more food and cooking more regularly. Costco was our new best friend and we were buying the crap out of frozen food. And now, every single mother loving time we opened the freezer door – our feet were assaulted by a frozen avalanche of pokey boxes (sharp corners) and bags.
It was just-missed-the-train-by-seconds (and the next one’s an hour away) level frustrating (as opposed to pinky toe stubbing level of frustration) because this fridge had always worked for us and now it just wasn’t working at all!
I completely refused to accept it. I tried to force it to work by stuffing things in more strategically. I tried moving things around. I tried opening the door slower and more carefully.
No matter what I tried, I kept slamming into the walls of the real problem: our refrigerator was not going to hold this much food. Period. And it wasn’t going to get better.
Once I could finally see the problem for what it was (we had outgrown our fridge), I was finally able to accept it and figure out a new solution. A new fridge that holds more!
Thinking back, it’s silly how much I fought for making our old fridge work! I mean, who doesn’t want a beautiful modern fridge with better storage capacity, better design, and more functionality?
Bonus: stainless steel is so much nicer to look at than beige (I have no idea if it was metal or plastic… let’s just leave it at beige).
Isn’t that usually the case in life? When things have always worked for us, we assume they will go on working forever. We don’t give it a second thought, and it becomes an assumed truth for us.
And then… when those things stop working for us, we resist and fight it tooth and nail! We get mad and we keep slamming into the walls of our problems, trying to break them down for our own convenience and comfort.
And of course, it isn’t until the moment we can finally see with clarity what’s not working anymore (and accept it for what it is) that we can then imagine a newer and better way forward (that works so much better).
Change can be annoying, frustrating, and even scary – especially when it means changing something that always worked before.
This is especially true in your business.
When you have that one killer process, product, offering, pitch, or client relationship that has always worked for you – always brought in the results you wanted. Until it didn’t.
Seeing that something isn’t working can be way harder and less clear when you’re in it, too. Which is half the problem. One bad pitch doesn’t mean anything. But at what point does it start to mean something?
As if that weren’t enough – there’s what we’re believing about what’s happening, too.
What we believe can often color the truth of what is happening in our work, and this is where your data shines like a superstar.
When you can use your data to understand what’s happening in your business, you’ll be able to know instead of just wonder.
When you can rely on your data to show you your business metrics – you’ll have an objective lens to view what’s happening with clarity.
Once you can clearly see what’s happening – you can accept it and figure out a better way to move forward.
In a world where your systems are collecting data for you, would you rather keep wondering, or would you prefer to use that data and know?
Start your knowing journey today! Join my Intro to Data class called Business, Meet Data!
It’s fun, jargon free, and brimming with valuable ways to start.
What more could you ask for?
Oh, you want it to be free? Yes! It’s that too (because I want everyone to learn data skills)
I’m ready to start knowing with my data!
And if doing what you’ve always done is still working for you – I get it! I’ll be here when you’re ready. My new fridge and I will welcome you with open arms!
