Taking Time to Reflect

OK, so, I still watch Grey's Anatomy. After countless break-room romances, plane crashes, ferry accidents, marriages and divorces, I'm still hooked. Between all of the melodrama, I find there is still a message that will get me thinking. This last week, in the face of paralysis caused by a recent accident, a man had to choose between living paralyzed or taking himself off of the ventilator, which would subsequently end his life. In the conversation asking him what his decision was, there were three significant questions posed to him: "Do you know who you are? Do you know what's happened to you? Do you want to live this way?"

Heavy stuff indeed. I spoke these questions out loud and thought on them for some time. Removing the obvious literal life and death question posed by the show, these are all questions that in some way or another, as professionals, as business owners and simply as people, we should all be asking ourselves.

These are the questions we must ask when we are at any crossroad, whether it be one that is personal or for business. These questions can easily be translated to: "Do you know what your business is, what your brand is? Do you know what's happened and are you keeping tabs on what is successful and what is draining resources without success? Do you want your business to continue to function in this way?"

In the last five years, all businesses have felt the sting in one way or another. Successful rebuilding requires a long hard look in the mirror and taking a few moments to reflect. Do you know who you are?