Barb saved the day. Or at least my business trip to Whistler!As you’re reading this, I’m at my own Mastermind group experience with my professional coach and consulting colleagues in beautiful Whistler, BC. As I was heading out the door to leave, I did one final check of everything I needed, and that included a check with my wife and business partner.
As we went though everything that was critical – including what I needed to deal with for the bronchitis I’d caught earlier in the week and was now grinding through – Barb asked, “Passport?”
Of course it was downstairs in my office and that would not have sufficed with the border guard and the crossing!
While I have a checklist for my travel, the passport has not been on it because I almost never need it. It has now been added. Additionally, this “near miss” must be learned from in order to not have a calamity later. I am applying for my enhanced drivers license when I return. This additional coverage on my drivers license allows me to cross into Canada without a passport. In this case, even had I forgotten the passport, I would have been able to enter enter. Redundancy at work.
While there are several metaphors I can use for this story, the one I will use for this missive is the “near miss” adjustment. All too often, in business and in life, we experience near misses and allow them to become forgotten and thought of as simply a dodged bullet. The better action is to fix what might be an obvious future peril.
In my story, the fix is twofold; adding the passport to my checklist and getting the enhanced drivers license. What recent events have you experienced that might be considered “near misses?”
Your assignment is to figure that out and appropriately respond. Examples might include near misses involving auto accidents, home or office mishaps, forgetting to do something important, not promptly responding to a business request, a workplace accident, or an equipment failure. I’m confident you will find a few!
Take it from me, near misses are often the best teachers. We get to fix an issue that we avoided. The worst thing I could do is not follow through on my adjustment and then at some point forget my passport. Make sure you make the proper adjustments to your near misses to help prevent calamity and assure success.
Be Unleashed!
Quote of the Day:
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Note: Sorry for no video. As you read, I’ve been dealing with bronchitis and the video just wasn’t going to be good enough! It will return next week!
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