It’s the small things which make the big difference

I had an interesting experience this week when I met someone in the car park of Bio City in Nottingham. I was just leaving after delivering a successful Mental Resilience workshop to staff of Bio City and I was greeted by a lady who at first I didn’t recognise. More on my Mental Resilience Workshop here: https://www.jdmindcoach.com/training/mental-resilience-training/

She greeted me with a warm “Hello John we have missed you at the Rotary Club and were wondering how you are doing.” I am an associate member of a Rotary Club in Nottingham and I received this honour after speaking at one of their meetings last year. This membership allows me to pop in when I can and doesn’t require me to attend every meeting. I am so busy currently that I haven’t been to a meeting for several months and that is why I received the warm friendly greeting from this member of the club.

The next words she said were both surprising and very encouraging. She continued with the following words: “We knew that you were still around because we have heard you on BBC Radio Nottingham.” This really surprised and pleased me because it demonstrated a belief that I hold which is that we need to put the work in first and we get the rewards later.

I am a regular speaker on BBC Radio Nottingham where I review the papers on the breakfast show every six weeks. I’ve also been a guest speaker on two of the Sunday Breakfast shows this year. I really enjoy these appearances but didn’t really think there would be any benefit to doing these other than enjoyment. This encounter has made me realise that you just don’t know what the results will be from sowing seeds.

It’s similar to my free talks to Rotary Clubs across the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire region. I have been delivering these for about 2 years now and have often been driving back in the rain at 10pm at night having spent time and money speaking at these meetings. I do enjoy the meal, meeting the members and the speaking but sometimes I am just so tired it can be hard work. But over the time I have been doing these I have had two pieces of significant business and I have developed my speaking skills as well.

So the message for me is to sow the seeds even though I can’t see the immediate benefits at the time. More often than not there will be a result further down the line. I approach all meetings in this way now where I don’t think of the immediate benefits but more long term and it’s proving to be a much better way of moving my business forward.

Six weeks ago at the end of my newspaper review on the breakfast show for a laugh I suggested that on the next show I bring my basketball and spin the ball live on radio! Amazingly the presenter said yes. So this Monday I went into BBC Radio Nottingham with my basketball and at the end of my review of the papers I stood up and span the basketball on my finger while the presenter commentated live on air. This was hilarious and a bit ‘off the wall’ but I used the opportunity to ask the listeners to visualise a tall bald man standing up and spinning a basketball on his finger – thus introducing the concept of visualisation.

If you want to see me spin the ball copy and paste this link to my 2 min video clip http://youtu.be/_NgGkPkFb5Q

So if you are doing some things which you know are right for your business but you don’t see results yet be patient and don’t give up as you are likely to see the results further down the line.

John