Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

I originally titled this post "Please Stop Whining About the Economy" but thought that a wee bit harsh; however, seriously, people, just stop complaining!  I have had so many conversations with people who have been in business for five years or longer, and all they keep referencing is how it "used to be."  Not only is it not five years ago, it's not even two years ago. If what you are doing is not working, don't just stop and curse your lot in life--move forward.  There is a book I had to read years ago called Who Moved My Cheese.  I used to make fun of it, but there is wisdom in it. I will give it a "Jeff" summarization (a loose translation).  It is about a group of mice who go to get their cheese everyday in the same place. Then one day the cheese isn't there. Some of the mice are stuck in the routine and keep coming back day after day looking in the same spot for their cheese. The other mice decide to forage for new cheese. They don't dwell on the fact that their life just changed.

Don't be the mice who aren't willing to change. Don't be such a slave to habits that you become extinct. If you HAD a successful business years ago and technology has made your business obsolete, then move with the cheese.

This leads me to my favorite motto popularized by Clint Eastwood in the movie Heartbreak Ridge--"Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome".  It is the "unofficial" mantra of the U.S. Marine Corps. You should stop and say it out loud. I can't promise that you will feel like a Marine if you do, but it does conjure up a certain amount of free-spirited, resourceful determination from within.

I have to admit that sometimes I am the mouse who wants to whine about the cheese being moved. I would rather sit home and have it delivered to me. This isn't going to happen anytime soon so I am forced to continuously re-assess what we are doing here at the studio. Is this profitable? Will starting a new line right now really be profitable? Do I see where the industry is headed, six months, one year, two years or five years out? I have to be planning for this now in order to be in the right position for changes.

This isn't a post to tell you what your next step is. That's for you to decide, but I will say this.  If you are JUST now talking about a blog, that was at least three waves ago, and you have a lot of catching up to do.

People, please think long and hard on what you are doing right now to be marketable next year.

Remember: Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.


Colonel Jeff
"I am not a marine but I play one on Xbox"