The Benefits of Tough Economic Times

I’m sure there are a few people who thrive in tough economic times, but most of us don’t like the thought of wrestling through a difficult year or two as we fight to keep our jobs and businesses healthy. On the other hand, perhaps there are benefits to this season that we can look to as we push our way through.

One of my sons called this week. He has graduated from medical school and has moved into his fist home in California. He got an old pair of pruning shears and was preparing to clean up some seriously overgrown rose bushes. “January is the ideal pruning season,” I began.

We then discussed how overgrown the rose bushes had become and planned an attack. He wanted to simply whack them back, and start from the ground, but as we discussed the types of wood in the plant and a few principles of pruning, he was glad he made the call to his experienced garden loving Dad and avoided the temptation to cut to the root.

Like pruning in the winter months, these tough economic times aren’t all bad either. I’ve found that we tend to get a little lazy and sloppy during long seasons of prosperity. If we pay attention to nature, we notice that the patterns of the seasons provide a good example of how we can operate during economic slow downs.

Pruning
Have things become a little overgrown in your company, or in your job? Growth is good, it produces valuable fruit that is needed to sustain and nourish us. But wild growth left unmanaged produces a twisted and unproductive part of the plant that can lose its value if left unchecked for too many seasons.

So how do you prune a company? In horticulture the first cut is should be made to the sucker. A sucker is a shoot or can which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub. These branches grow up in the middle of a plant, suck the energy out during the summer months, have the appearance of new growth, but actually never produce fruit. They’re the first that should be trimmed. They’ve got to go.

The next to get cut is the dead wood. Dead wood is found at the end of some strong branches where growth was allowed to happen, but this part of the tree is no longer useful or needed. It gets cut back into the healthy part of the plant, where it hurts a little because the plant will often “bleed” a few drops. But it quickly scars over and flourishes in better health than it would have otherwise, once the spring arrives.

Budding New Growth
Once pruning is completed, the plant looks quite different that it did before. It appears a little scarce and looks like it’s lacking something. The cold season soon passes and a miracle is suddenly realized. Behind each cut, budding new growth begins. New life springs from the old branches with vigor and strength. The plant surges with renewed momentum and springs back into full life once again. The plant is stronger and better than ever before and it moves into a new season.

The Value of a Parable
The worth of a parable is that you can take it with you. These principles guide us through tough times and provide a scale we can use to measure each action and decision as we move through the seasons.

Times like this strip away the unnecessary and allow us to see what really is important. You can use this time to focus on the dead wood that’s cast into the fire of current world news and politics, or you can use it to make needed changes and get back to the basics that have made you successful in the past. If success has eluded you, this is the season to make the changes necessary to assure that your success in the next season will be here before you know it.

Rob “Doc” Falke serves the industry as president of National Comfort Institute a training company specializing in measuring, rating, improving and verifying HVAC system performance. You can contact Doc at robf@ncihvac.com or call him at 800-633-7058. Go to NCI’s website at nationalcomfortinstitute.com for free information, technical articles and downloads.