Cleanfax, MayJune 2018

M any years ago Tommy and the boys that would be omas Je erson Benjamin Franklin John Adams Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman were asked to write a declaration explaining why thirteen colonies felt justi ed in separating themselves from the British Crown justi ed enough in fact to put their lives and fortunes on the line One of the reasons they gave was the pursuit of happiness Scholars will point out that happiness was not de ned the same way in 1776 as it is today but nevertheless the phrase remains a cornerstone of the collective American consciousness And it is part of the consciousness of many business owners American or otherwise In business this pursuit of happiness plays itself out in lots of ways Postponing nancial and emotional rewards today in the hopes of enjoying better things tomorrow is just one of them An ideal that seems to be gaining popularity lately even talks about building businesses today to ip them tomorrow once again suggesting a greater reward at some time in the future In my opinion this kind of thinking overlooks one of the real joys of owning and running a company the pursuit itself How di erent would things be if we reversed the order of the words in this phrase Instead of the pursuit of happiness what would happen if our objective was the happiness of pursuit If we strived to actually enjoy our journey while taking it Unless your business involves the military health care or law enforcement most businesses dont involve life ordeath situations and most of the decisions we make in them are not life or death decisions Realizing this maybe we should try to relax a bit and smell the proverbial roses Many of us start our businesses because we either enjoy performing or were especially skilled at a particular job It might be accounting selling solving problems working with our hands or just interacting with others We then use these skills to earn a living build a career and provide for our future If were not careful its easy to get caught up in comparing our accomplishments to those of the people around us In doing so we may overlook the things weve achieved and the parts of our jobs we enjoy doing We can get so consumed with competing doing and general busyness that we miss the happiness of just being Im a rm believer in the value of strategic planning which means thinking about and planning for the future but not at the cost of planning all the joy out of the present How much better would our companies perform if we took the time to appreciate the value of our setbacks as well as our victories our superstar employees as well as our troubling ones the customers who rave about us as well as the ones who complain I think wed do ourselves a huge favor if we took the time to nd ways to better enjoy the performance of our companies today appreciate the people with whom weve Its easy to get caught up in comparing our accomplishments to those of the people around us surrounded ourselves and the opportunities for personal growth that our companies provide Tomorrow holds no guarantee of a better day I think wed live longer lives and have more ful lling careers if we took time to enjoy the pursuit Chuck Violand is the founder and principal of Violand Management Associates VMA a highly respected consulting company in the restoration and cleaning industries Through VMA he works with business owners and companies to develop their people and their profi ts Violand is the past president of the RIA To reach him visit his website or call 800 360 3513 SOLUTIONS ODOR DESTROYER Urine and Organic Odor Eliminator SOLUTIONS Odor Destroyer contains bioengineered enzymes that eliminate odors from pet urine smoke and other unpleasant smells Certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute For water safe carpets upholstery fabrics and hard surfaces Water based solution is ready to use no mixing required Contains odor suppressor for immediate odor relief Enzymes eliminate the odor source www solutionsbysteampros com 1 800 670 7767 MAY JUN 2018 cleanfax com 37 NEW FREE INFO Reader Service 225 at Cleanfax com freeinfo