(and what it taught me about business development)
It’s 6am on a Tuesday and I feel movement in the bed next to me.
Barely awake, I know what’s next and wince.
Not now.
Our 2 year old Lyra often wakes in the night and won’t settle back in her cot. My wife and I take turns co-sleeping with her.
Then with more randomness than a lottery selector, she wakes at any time between 5.30am and 7.30am.
“Please Lyra. Go to sleep .”
She looks at me silently. Judging my weakness.
Without thinking, I say “Want to snuggle?”
I’ve never said that to her before.
To my amazement, she nods, rolls under my left arm and backs up into me, knees up against her chest. Minutes later, she’s asleep.
I lie in stunned silence for a while,
breathing in the magic of the moment.
Then I also sleep. A deep, fulfilling slumber.
An hour later, we get up and have the most joyful morning together.
It feels like walking on clouds.
Not long after, I thought it was going to happen again.
Early morning stirrings.
“Want to snuggle?”
She nods and rolls into my arms.
Yes! It wasn’t a fluke.
I’m punching the air in my mind, grinning from ear to ear.
30 seconds later, Lyra wriggles free, jumps up and starts dancing on the bed. The day has officially begun.
The time after that, she cuts me off at “Want to snuggle?”, shaking her head and declaring, “Up!”.
Some say that King Solomon once asked of his wisest men a saying that would always be true, no matter what.
The best of them came to him with the following:
“This too, shall pass”.
For 30 years, those four words have helped me through the toughest challenges in business and life.
The funding round that collapses.
The product launch that flops.
The co-founder conflict.
This too, shall pass.
But the “snuggle” moment illustrates the more subtle yet equally vital outtake:
The perfect hire.
The 10x revenue year.
When product-market fit clicks.
The sublime, quiet moment with your daughter.
~ This too, shall pass ~
Recognise the magic.
Immerse yourself fully.
Because the win is as fleeting as the crisis.
That’s not cynicism. It’s presence.
PS.
Pic is us waiting for coffee, cake & carrot sticks.
Not sure who’s more excited.
