Hitting the Ceiling

Time spent at the Daniell Arms, Truro from November 1985 – September 1987 was a fantastic learning experience and one I would not be change. The thrill of running a business (albeit not my own at that stage) set the adrenaline pumping along with the desire to improve and move onto the next level.

Over the first 12 months business continued to boom, each week takings were up and Truro being the only city in Cornwall it hardly fluctuated between summer and winter trade. In my mind every day was a competition to beat the previous days takings, I had/have that hunger to always improve on what had been previously achieved.

In the office at the Daniell which was part of the upstairs accommodation I kept a wall chart which plotted progress for the year. As I had now been at the Daniell for over 12 months I was starting to see a comparasion on my own trading figures and the progress made. Christmas was coming and I was expecting another busy one, the previous Christmas certainly had been busy with trade doubling on a normal week. As per the previous Christmas I stocked up and was ready for the busy season! Not only did I beat the figures from the previous year, they were smashed! In fact as it turned out the chart on the wall couldn’t show the turnover had risen so much. The graph went onto the wall and then onto the ceiling! It’s something I will never forget.

The reason I believe trade went as well as it did was not for the big things that I did at the Daniell Arms but more for the small everyday things. It was about being consistent, doing the same things day in, day out, not giving up on my goals, but keeping focused. Incidentally, I have never used graph paper again in the same way but used other forms to visualise my goals.

There are many ways you can focus on your success, for most it doesn’t come overnight. Usually it will take the form of hard work and not losing sight of the ‘why’.