Looking back on an open door

A couple of weeks back I did something stupid and potentially dangerous. I opened the door without double checking to see who was behind the door. In my defense it was extremely early in the morning and in the fog of waking up when I heard the knocking at the door I thought it was my husband having forgotten his keys (which was a really silly thought because how could he have driven home from work without his keys?!)

It was not my husband and I ended up calling the police who ended up taking the drunk, distressed and confused girl away. I spent the rest of the day kicking myself for opening the door in the first place, but it did get me to thinking...

How much of what we do is automatic? Even though we've been taught against doing certain things, even though it's been drilled into our heads over and over again...even though we know better.

I'm not just talking about opening the door to strangers. I'm talking about things like

• not planning for our business
• not taking the time to identify and speak directly to our target market
• not creating campaigns that complement each other
• ordering umteem books and resources and never using them
• working longer hours rather than outsourcing or saying "no" when we're overwhelmed

We know we're supposed to do these things. We know that they will save us time and money...and yet too many of us ignore what we know is right and do what we've always done.

I know it's not just me. I know there are tons of small business and home business owners doing the exact same thing. Learning the information and not applying it for whatever reason. There's always good reasons and that's part of the problem.

This little incident was eye-opening in more ways than one. I've taken the last little while to see where I'm not applying the lessons I've learned. Of course, it always seems like I'm doing that. But every time I do, I improve a little - hopefully one day I'll really get it all working together like a well oiled machine and won't have to keep re-tooling.

Until then, I'll keep plugging away until the lessons stick.