Some changes happen so gradually that you don’t notice them.
Others arrive with a very obvious clunk.
Recently, one of those happened in our house.
Leo, our rescue dog who has taught me more than a few business lessons over the years, wandered over.
Except this time…
The door was locked.
That was new.
The First Response: Keep Trying
Leo didn’t immediately understand what had changed.
He nudged the door.
Looked around.
Whined.
Tried again.
Surely if he just pushed a little harder, the door would open like it always had.
It didn’t.
Watching him made me smile, but it also made me think about business.
How often do we do exactly the same thing?
A client changes direction.
A networking opportunity disappears.
An enquiry doesn’t turn into work.
A marketing strategy that once worked suddenly doesn’t.
And instead of accepting what’s changed, we keep pushing on the same locked door.
Frustration Comes Before Acceptance
It’s completely natural.
We invest time, energy and emotion into opportunities.
When they stop working, our first instinct is often frustration.
We wonder what we’re doing wrong.
We push harder.
We knock louder.
We try one more email.
One more post.
One more conversation.
All because we’re hoping the door will suddenly unlock again.
The Moment of Realisation
Eventually Leo stopped.
He realised the door wasn’t going to open.
Nothing he did was going to change that.
It wasn’t about trying harder.
The situation itself had changed.
Once he accepted that, something interesting happened.
He simply wandered off, settled down and went to sleep.
Problem solved.
Review. Refine. Monitor.
That simple moment reminded me of something I try to apply in my own business.
When something isn’t working, I don’t want to keep throwing time and energy at it indefinitely.
Instead, I try to:
- Review what’s changed.
- Refine my approach if needed.
- Monitor the results before deciding what to do next.
Sometimes the answer is persistence.
Sometimes the answer is improvement.
And sometimes…
The answer is recognising that the door really is locked.
Not Every Door Needs Opening
One of the hardest lessons in business is accepting that not every opportunity is meant to stay open forever.
Clients leave.
Projects end.
Strategies become outdated.
Markets change.
None of those things automatically mean we’ve failed.
Often they simply mean it’s time to stop standing outside one locked door and notice the others that are already open.
Leo figured that out surprisingly quickly.
Once he accepted the situation, he stopped wasting energy trying to change something he couldn’t control.
There are days when I think we could all learn a little from that.
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