Letting Go Of The Principle

Over the last 5 years, I have become quite good at dealing with the stresses and uncertainties of running the business – from starting in the pandemic when everything was getting trapped in customs, to leaks in our old premises damaging our stock, my first web development company going bust, big orders going missing, to mis-ordering items, to challenging staffing situations, my website being taken down – you become pretty resilient and a bit laissez-faire. But there are still certain things which send me into a spiral like nothing else… namely, delivery companies.

This morning, after 2 hours just trying to speak to someone at DHL to get some parcels collected, I saw red. It’s one I am sure everyone can relate to: the frustration when you just want to be able to speak to a person. In the scheme of things, in the scheme of the world, it’s of course so minor, so why does it absorb so much emotional energy? It made me angry in a way I am not proud of – I don’t want to be an angry person. It’s not the person you are speaking to fault, but it’s hard to not vent that frustration (what a difficult job it must be being in customer service at one of the big delivery companies).

It showed me how far I have come in terms of personally being able to deal with stresses, but also how far I still have to go. I listen to no end of small business-related podcasts, and the constant rhetoric is about resilience – to deal with uncertainty, to deal with things going wrong, to focus on the bigger picture, to get up every day and keep working at it.

So let’s talk about when to choose to fight for something and when to back down. I’ll take you back to the earliest and hardest of the challenges I dealt with, letting go of the principle, and why it’s all got to be worth it (surely?!).