Long distance runners are familiar with the term “hitting the wall”. The point in a race when you literally hit a wall of extreme fatigue. Your body suddenly feels very weak and you are unable to run at your normal pace, if at all. If you have never hit this wall before, it will usually mean the end of the race for you. The solution is to train the body by running a number of long distance runs into that zone, and by introducing carbohydrates into your system at the right times.
So what’s the lesson here for the small business owner and entrepreneur? It’s about knowing your limitations. And not just knowing – but experiencing “hitting the wall” of your limitations. It personally has been the greatest business lesson I have ever learned. No, I didn’t appreciate it at the time – and I certainly did not like running smack into my wall of limitations – especially when I didn’t know it existed!
It was painful, and it was debilitating. My confidence was shaken to the core. Everything I had ever believed about myself was in question. Do I really have what it takes? Are my business theories and strategies incorrect? Are my leadership skills lacking? Am I in over my head?
Certainly not questions we ask ourselves when in the throes of success! Nope, these questions only eat at us in our lowest of moments. And as painful as they are – the answers are vital to our growth.
Show me an entrepreneur and I will show you someone who has at some point experienced failure due to their own limitations. Mine came while at the helm of rapidly growing business. Through several merger and acquisition maneuvers, and standing up a new division, revenues increased in just one year by a million and a half. Good stuff right!?
Not so good actually. We were a speeding train gaining more and more momentum and market share, the problem is I was still laying down the rails to keep us on track. Yes, we were a runaway train. Yet, instead of slowing down, I kept going full steam ahead, convinced I could just work longer and harder and stay one track ahead of the train. Predictably – I could not. I lost control of the business and just as fast as we had grown, we began to fail.
Was that my wall of limitations? Yes, but never having seeing it before I didn’t recognize it for what it was. Instead, my first reaction was to keep my legs moving underneath me to grow the business again. It wasn’t until I realized that though it felt like I was churning my legs harder than ever – I was steadily losing ground. That’s when I “hit the wall”.
I came to a dead stop.
Not because I wanted to, but because I literally could not continue. I was forced to sit and stare at my wall of limitations. The choice here is to admit defeat – or to learn. I chose to study my limitations, become intimate with them, and then got down to the serious business of learning how to overcome them. To be very clear here – overcoming your limitations is not the same as erasing them! Some you will, but some will always be there. Like the runner’s wall – no matter how many times they run the marathon – they still hit the wall, they just have figured out how to get over it! You can too!
Your business journey is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Prepare yourself to overcome “the wall” by learning your limitations, accepting them, and even embracing them. Now you know what could potentially prevent your success. Turn that knowledge into solutions and you win the race. That’s working smarter – not harder!
Mark A. Sandate is the Managing Director of MASSolutions, LLC – a small business advisory firm, and an accredited Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business (IIB). For more information and to inquire about a free, IIB sponsored, 4 hour consultation please email mas@mas-solutions.biz.
