Row, Row, Row Your Boat… With A Purpose

Recently, I attended an out of town conference relating to business and networking. Hundreds of others were in attendance with similar industry accomplishments, goals and hopes. While looking around and taking notice of the way others carried themselves and how they reacted to a variety of situations, I made an observation. We are all in the same boat.

I wasn’t struck by this with much force because it was a pre-existing known. What really did strike me was that not only were we in the same boat, we were helping one another with our oars, the securing of the anchor all the way down to stocking and carrying the cooler onto the vessel.

As I watched and listened I began to get overwhelmed by the amount of information that was in front of me. We only had three days and there was absolutely no way for any of us to talk with everybody on our list of desired because there were non-stop additions to the list.

Granted, many of us had been planning for months in advance to sit and talk about specific topics. But once we got there and met new folks that we had no idea were even going to be there, the task of time management became that much more difficult.

So, the time came for decisions. What are my immediate goals and what information did I expect to give (and get) during my meetings? How do I stay focused on my primary goals and expectations with so many great distractions surrounding me? Is there a definitive answer to this? Hardly.

The purpose of going is to be fed information to consider for implementation upon returning to our respective areas of the world. The approach is similar to the way one would eat an elephant. One bite at a time. Now, I’ve never eaten elephant and don’t plan to, but you get the idea here.

With each step we take, with every thought that bounces around in our heads, with every stroke of the oars, we must focus on one thing at a time in order to be productive. If our rowing team has similar goals and is rowing in the same direction and we do that in unison, we’ll get there quicker and more easily.

You see, working as a team keeps us focused. It creates accountability. Teamwork allows those who are strong and motivated to coach and help those who are striving to be better. When we raise others up through helping them achieve their goals, we silently take a step or two up ourselves.

So chart your course, prepare your crew and row, my friends! Row! GO DO!™