Decompressing

Decompressing

So I've done some conferences this year.

The largest were: SMBTN Summit (March); SMB Nation East (May); SBS Migration/I.T. Pro conference in New Orleans (May); Microsoft Partner Conference (July); and, of course SMB Nation (Sept/Oct).

Take-aways varied.

All conferences were great. Professional conferences give you a chance to learn things in the sessions, between sessions, and even in the evenings over a meal (or whatever).

Now I get to decompress a little.

Sometimes we get wound up into a frenzy of running around, with major projects all over the place, one deadline after another. We end up focusing on the "big things" all the time. You know you need to take care of the big things first. But, eventually, you also have to take care of the little things.

This has been an amazing nine months since March.

We really took care of a lot of big things.

Now, as I look toward the end of the year I realize that I need to rest a bit for the final push. Because the publishing side of my brain has been geared so much to major conferences, it's tempting to say the year's over. But 1/4 of it is still ahead!

Goals

I really have three separate business lives:
- KPEnterprises
- Great Little Book
- Relax Focus Succeed

and so I have have four sets of goals next to my desk. Personal goals, plus goals for the three jobs I hold.

From time to time I look up to see what has been done and what remains to be checked off. Profitable Q3. Check. Profitable Q4. Ooops. Can't rest too long on my laurels!

Getting the "big things" done has been very powerful for my organization. This is primarily because the world keeps changing. So when we add HaaS and Exchange Defender and AuthAnvil to the mix, start a new company, and have a couple of earth-shattering changes thrust upon us, guess what? We still meet our most important goals because we prioritized and put the big things first.

If you focus on the daily twists and turns, and the Little Things, then it's easy for interruptions and events to throw you off course. If you focus on the Big Picture and the Big Things, then all that other stuff gets added to the mix -- but it doesn't throw you off course.

Balance

So how do you keep going?

Well, the easy part is: you don't have any choice. The sun just came up here on the west coast. It will come up tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. Jobs will flow in, changes will happen, servers will squeak, switches will fail, payroll's coming up, . . . and the beat goes on.

If you haven't gotten in the habit of taking some quiet time to step back from the world and put things in perspective, I recommend it. It is perhaps the greatest habit I have ever adopted. Some days you need it more than others.