We are in the middle of a series of weather adventures in the Pacific Northwest. Snow, wind, ice storms. And they are wreaking havoc on the area. For most of the weather adventures, instruments have provided the ability for people to be informed and prepared. Like any tool, it measures what is on the horizon. And the closer the weather gets, the more precise the information.

The same is true in business. There are always a number of conditions on the horizon that need to be monitored. Some things will come to pass and others won’t. The key is to keep an eye on them all, make preparations, and execute on significant opportunities or challenges as they approach.

Beavers have been hard at work building dams. They chewed trees down and collected limbs to create a series of dams along a stream. The dams don’t only create a place for them to live. It also helps the eco system by supporting birds and fish, as well as helping reduce erosion and flooding.

There are seemingly little things that happen in companies too that support the eco system of the company. Finding and encouraging the beavers in your company can help the flow of necessary information while filtering out the stuff that doesn’t need to move forward.

It is a new day and a new year. What path will you choose to get you where you want to be?

A friend recently brought a cheese and fruit plate to a gathering. But there was something different about this one. The apple slices had pink flesh. I’d never seen that before, and neither had the other attendees. Apple peels come in many colors…red, pink, green, yellow, etc. But, I had assumed that the flesh was generally close to the same color in all apples because I hadn’t seen anything different before.

People make assumptions all the time based on what they’ve seen or know. And in the business world, that can be a challenge if other perspectives aren’t brought in to help with innovation and growth. Or even just running the day to day better. Because assumptions can lead to the place if not challenged.

I had an epic fail. At least my dog thought so. And in this case, it is her opinion that matters. She loves her treat time and I thought it would be fun to try something new. Did I get it wrong! She either picked the new treats out of her food bowl and spit them out on the floor, or ate everything in the bowl except the new treats depending on her mood.

Moving ahead and making progress requires trying new things. But here’s the thing: it won’t always work. And knowing why the failure happened will provide valuable information to know what to do next. Knowing what not to do is just as valuable as knowing what to do.

The rain stayed away for a few weeks, slowing the water flowing through the feeder creeks. The main creek looked still on top even though water flowed through little stick dams. A strange contrast….significant movement while appearing still.

Projects, product development, idea development, and much more can have a significant amount of progress and forward movement while seeming like nothing is moving from the outside. That’s often why big developments seem to come out of nowhere. A lot of activity has been going on for a long time, but those on the outside only saw stillness.

Wow! How can it do that? That’s all I could think as a squirrel leaped across the driveway with a bright red apple about half the size of its body in its mouth. It was probably carrying about half its body weight. But you wouldn’t know given how easily it was leaping. And how was it able to get enough of the apple in its mouth without dropping it? It didn’t worry about all the reasons why it couldn’t or shouldn’t be able to do what it just did. It just did it.

Too often in business, we overthink or come up with all the reasons why something isn’t possible. Or shouldn’t work. Most of the time, it is just a matter of getting in the right frame of mind and making it happen.