Dangling On The End of That Rope

I was mumbling to myself again.
I was mumbling because of the insanity of my situation.

Hanging off the edge of that beautiful cliff in North Wales.
The wind whipping at my face.
The beach somewhere, out of sight, below me.

I’d never abseiled before.
Yet there was a large group of youth watching me intently.
Watching to see if “Ol’ Dave Scarlett” would make it alive to the bottom.

Yes, it was blisteringly hot that day.
But that wasn’t the cause of my bodily angst, nor the rivulets of sweat running down my spine.

Whilst the manic grin stuck on my face didn’t fool anybody.

For six years, I was responsible for presiding over the annual Youth Camps for 8 of our churches in Sussex & Surrey.

A dozen adults and 50+ teenagers looked to me for organisation, direction and training.

Yet, none of that capability was helping me, as my harness dangled on the end of that rope.

That rope: merely a combination of fairly fragile threads.
Each thread could probably be broken by one of those youth.

But combined…
Aah! Now that’s a different matter!

Woven together, they presented a power on which my life, literally, ‘hung by a thread’ (or two).

And so it is with many business principles and practices.

People read the Eight-Step ‘Soul Millionaire Journey’ in my soon-to-be published book.
And some comment: “I really like steps 4 and 6. But the rest I can take or leave.”

They think I’m merely presenting a virtuous checklist which, if they choose one or two items from the smorgasbord…
Will deliver award-winning results, and a massive uplift in their revenue.

They don’t ‘get it’, do they?

It’s the combination of all 8 threads within the ‘rope’.
THAT is what produces the strength of what I’m writing about!
THAT is what will transform Good to Great.

And so it is when I go to conferences, seminars and workshops.
I hear that perennial comment: “If I can pick up just one good idea from this conference, it will have been worth it.”

I hear it. And sigh.

What they don’t seem to grasp is that I’ve been one of those speakers at those many conferences.
On that platform, I’ve only a limited time to describe why I and my clients have enjoyed success in a particular subject.

It’s never, ever that singular idea, which produced the results.
No matter how much the speaker might desire that it had been.

There’s a woven multi-stranded rope of principles and practices, which – when combined – delivered excellent results.

So…
When you’re going to ‘Step Off The Edge’ with that business idea you picked up at the last Annual Conference…

You might ask yourself if you could just be hanging your future by a single out-of-context thread.
Or if you’ve bought into the Full Rope.