Sometime last year, my business was consulted to cater for the food need of a group of about 80 people who were on a retreat. It was a 3 day retreat, and we were to prepare, package and take different meals to them at their retreat camp.
We had been on the planning for about 2 months before the event. Evidently, the person in charge of the planning from the other side, was someone who is excellence driven. She didn't want any flops, and so she had contacted me months before so we can begin preparation early enough. Good for her, I am also an excellence and result driven CEO. Things do not go bad on my watch except it's not within my powers.
Unfortunately, two days to the start of the retreat, my younger sister was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, and she required an emergency surgery. Her husband was away from town and she had a 9 month old baby. All the fingers of the "gods" were pointing to me to take care of her and her baby. I was confused and devastated! My goodness, how do I cope with these huge responsibilities? I had less than 24 hours to decide whether to cancel the order or continue with it and still give my sister and her baby the care and attention they require, plus my own 2 toddlers. But how do I cancel an order we had been planning for over a month? That will mean leaving my client in a very tight position; she'd have less than 24 hours to consult another food vendor and begin planning afresh. No No! Cancelling was not an option! Neither was a shoddy job. So, I had to find a way around this mountain. But why was all these happening at the same time? I kept asking myself.
I went ahead with the order, while I sourced for all the help I could get to make sure my sister, her baby and my toddlers did not lack care.
It was 3 days of rigorous work, very rigorous work. Preparing and parking different dishes for about 80 people, without any mix up. We never delivered late despite the terrible traffic on the route to the retreat venue. There was no flop!
Did I mention that I had never met the planner for the retreat team? We did not know each other physically. All our planning took place on phone calls and chats. After the retreat, she came over with her driver to pick some things I helped her buy from the market. And when she saw me, with a skeptical/surprising look, she asked "are you Opeyemi? "I responded in the affirmative. And she said "𝐡𝐦𝐦𝐦...! 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲". She could not hide her shock! 🤣
Apparently, she was expecting to see a very tall, big statured Opeyemi . It was difficult to juxtapose the rigour of the work and quality of delivery with my physical size.🤣🤣
At the end of the day, my client was very impressed, my sister recuperated, I too was proud of myself, and I learnt that there's actually no excuse for not showing up strong. Even times when we feel we are at our wits end or at our elastic limit, there's still a little room to stretch if we try. Those stretches are the ones that make us stronger.
This week, make a deliberate decision to show up strong for that book project, for that webinar, for that video course you've been trying to record that has been frustrating you, for your business, family, etc. Stretch a little harder, stretch again, and you'll be surprised at how much farther you can go.
𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 𝟸𝟺:𝟷𝟶 " 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭"
To Your Continued Wellbeing,
We had been on the planning for about 2 months before the event. Evidently, the person in charge of the planning from the other side, was someone who is excellence driven. She didn't want any flops, and so she had contacted me months before so we can begin preparation early enough. Good for her, I am also an excellence and result driven CEO. Things do not go bad on my watch except it's not within my powers.
Unfortunately, two days to the start of the retreat, my younger sister was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, and she required an emergency surgery. Her husband was away from town and she had a 9 month old baby. All the fingers of the "gods" were pointing to me to take care of her and her baby. I was confused and devastated! My goodness, how do I cope with these huge responsibilities? I had less than 24 hours to decide whether to cancel the order or continue with it and still give my sister and her baby the care and attention they require, plus my own 2 toddlers. But how do I cancel an order we had been planning for over a month? That will mean leaving my client in a very tight position; she'd have less than 24 hours to consult another food vendor and begin planning afresh. No No! Cancelling was not an option! Neither was a shoddy job. So, I had to find a way around this mountain. But why was all these happening at the same time? I kept asking myself.
I went ahead with the order, while I sourced for all the help I could get to make sure my sister, her baby and my toddlers did not lack care.
It was 3 days of rigorous work, very rigorous work. Preparing and parking different dishes for about 80 people, without any mix up. We never delivered late despite the terrible traffic on the route to the retreat venue. There was no flop!
Did I mention that I had never met the planner for the retreat team? We did not know each other physically. All our planning took place on phone calls and chats. After the retreat, she came over with her driver to pick some things I helped her buy from the market. And when she saw me, with a skeptical/surprising look, she asked "are you Opeyemi? "I responded in the affirmative. And she said "𝐡𝐦𝐦𝐦...! 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲". She could not hide her shock! 🤣
Apparently, she was expecting to see a very tall, big statured Opeyemi . It was difficult to juxtapose the rigour of the work and quality of delivery with my physical size.🤣🤣
At the end of the day, my client was very impressed, my sister recuperated, I too was proud of myself, and I learnt that there's actually no excuse for not showing up strong. Even times when we feel we are at our wits end or at our elastic limit, there's still a little room to stretch if we try. Those stretches are the ones that make us stronger.
This week, make a deliberate decision to show up strong for that book project, for that webinar, for that video course you've been trying to record that has been frustrating you, for your business, family, etc. Stretch a little harder, stretch again, and you'll be surprised at how much farther you can go.
𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 𝟸𝟺:𝟷𝟶 " 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭"
To Your Continued Wellbeing,
Opeyemi Daniel Aderinto
GoodFoodBoss
GoodFoodBoss
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