There is a lot happening.  Not only in my personal life with a change in what we call home, in our business with new product offerings gaining traction, in our clients where everything that does happen in business is happening, in South African business where an iconic brand like KPMG is suddenly not so iconic and in the world at large, with everything from natural disasters, threats of war, ethnic cleansing, economic pressures and all forms of pending changes in the way we live our lives.

Wait a minute, I haven’t mentioned trying to navigate my way through my financial planning or dealing with the highest levels of apathy I have ever encountered in people (Where the gap between their complaints and their commitment to solve anything further widens). There are such vast factors that impact business sentiment, both down and up, that not even the clever kids seem to be able to predict, with any certainty, what we can expect the future to hold.

Are we doing the right things?

We can educate ourselves by reading, we can be vigilant in our daily dealings, we can rely on our intuitive facilities, we can focus on the negative, we can focus on the positive, we can join chat groups, we can pray, we can wait, we can create – in a nut shell “busying” ourselves is not a challenge.  Is all of our activity working? Is it helping? Are we doing the right things? How will we know?

I can do everything right in my home but when it does not rain I feel the pain.  I can keep my home free of germs but when the farmers around me spray their crops it impacts us.  I can do the right things to market our services but the unscrupulous activity of others destroys the economic environment we operate in. I can save for my retirement but someone might use this money one day to bail out SAA.

Can I make sense of it all?

It is very easy to over complicate it all and I know that this is not going to be how I will find my answer.  I suspect that what I need to do is reflect on my core values. I need to set absolute barriers for those things I regard as the absolute basics for my success.

What comes to mind as I sit here on this flight to KZN?

• Surround myself with good people.
• Trust myself.
• Listen to my conscience.
• Do the things I know add to my well-being every day.
• Address the niggles immediately.
• Talk openly.
• Set goals with core milestones.
• Celebrate every success.
• Avoid falling into the blame trap.
• Calm myself before making any major decisions.

Life may seem complicated to many of you.  Take some time to stop.  Book a flight to KZN if need be.  Rekindle your values and your basics.

I trust this all makes sense.

By Louis Gerke

Development Facilitator – The Ripple Effect

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