As we get older, our focus on problems seems to retreat from greater world issues to the more immediate and personal aches and pains.
We swap our universal ideals for smaller wins; adventures for creature comforts. We care less about changing the world, and more about securing our daily comfort and rituals. Our sphere of awareness diminishes.
This applies equally to business. The creative chaos of the new start-up is replaced by the practised routine of matured operations.
Until we are suddenly confronted with a change. An economic crisis, a health scare, a new game-changing competitor. A comfortable, well-worn routine can blind us to incoming change and opportunities. It shortchanges our creativity and our potential; a shameful waste of our talent.
Is this inevitable? Is this something to be quietly accepted with grace? How do we counter this retreat? How do we stay foolish and hungry (to paraphrase Steve Jobs)? Even as we gain wisdom, satiation (comfort), and lose boundless energy and the ability to forgo sleep without consequence?
What do you think?
