We all have partners in this world. Sometimes, as in a marriage, they work for a very long time - 30, 40, 50 years or more. Sometimes, they last for a few weeks, or less.
I've always been fascinated with people that have been able to make relationships last so long. What is the process? Have they aligned themselves so much with the other person and their values/beliefs/dreams/goals that it just works? Or have they sacrificed so much of their individual sense of being in order to make it work for such a long time? Did they get comfortable, give up on their dreams? Or, have they really figured out some secret that I have yet to understand? While I do have some very long and very strong friendships lasting a couple of decades, they're not certainly not like a long marriage or business relationship.
This point was made on several occasions this past week. One partnership that was several months in development was suddenly cut short by my partner's inability to decide and to act. Fear gripped this man, fear of losing money. So many 'what if's' occupied his thinking, that he was paralyzed from the head down. I saw it coming for a few days, and finally had to cut it off - it was a waste of time. And if I continued to nurture a person gripped by fear, I knew that I, too, would begin to fall into the same trap. So the dissolution comes with a few more lessons learned, and new opportunities unearthed. For this I'm grateful, and re-energized!
As I continue to build my company, and grow as person, I look forward to all of the lessons that each partnership - the ones lasting a couple of minutes (like meeting people at Starbucks) or ones lasting a lifetime (people I've already known for decades) - will provide - If I'm able to keep an attitude of gratitude, and to continually ask myself the question: "What's GREAT about this??"
Please share your thoughts and insights...
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