The Mountain Of Value

Your own metaphors have tremendous power to influence you, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned many times here.

But “borrowed” metaphors still matter. There’s a reason that teachers, advertisers, politicians and religious leaders love using metaphors – they just work!

And they work particularly well when you take someone else’s metaphor and make it your own.

One metaphor that’s been having an impact on me recently comes from Daniel Priestley, who I heard speak at an event in London recently.

I’ve been having one of my periodic confusions about where to take my business next. That’s not uncommon among entrepreneurs, apparently

It’s a state of confusion, uncertainty and not-knowing. And just because I’m fairly good with uncertainty – it’s at the heart fo the coaching I do – doesn’t make it pleasant.

The temptation is to ask myself “What would you like to have happen?” and then race off to create some new thing or other.

Daniel said that entrepreneurs would typically spend ages climbing a metaphorical mountain, as they got their business started. Then,  they’d stop at the top to enjoy the view.

What they could see from there was a range of other mountains – lots of shiny new things to try.

What they weren’t seeing, though, was the mountain they had climbed. Typically, they didn’t pay attention to what they had already achieved: the mountain of value that they were sitting on.

I find this idea quite inspiring. Recently, each time I’ve felt the familiar urge to go rushing off to try something completely new, I’ve reminded myself of Daniel’s metaphor.

And I’ve reminded myself that part of my mountain of value is that I can be relatively comfortable with uncertainty!