Sunday 28 September 2014

The Cheese Sandwich Paradox...

...in business you don't always get what you want...

Driving back from an event in Bucharest, we decided to head through Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro en route to our hotel in Split, Croatia...

For anyone who knows this part of the world, you'll understand when I say that the culture is somewhat different when compared to the USA, UK and France...

Finally finding our Hotel in Macedonia - there are no road signs there, a hangover from the Soviet Era when it was felt that people didn't need to know where to go outside of their own community - we were advised to go to a Restaurant overlooking a lake if we wanted an evening meal...

The three of us arrived and were the only people in the place. We were given menus and left to make our choices...

For us the prices were really low - so we decided to splash out on Filet Steak with all the trimmings and a bottle or two of red wine...

When the meal turned up - it was actually a large Pork Chop, covered with a square of burger cheese, topped off with a fried egg...


Lovely as this looked, it clearly wasn't Filet Steak...

I said to the waiter "this is not Filet Steak..."

To which he replied with the immortal words.

"it is here..."

Lesson learned - probably best to ask for chefs recommendation when travelling through old Soviet States...

Scroll forward to the London, September 2014...

Being with one of our favourite Clients and their team, we attended a Conference / Exhibition over two days at the Soccer Dome in Greenwich...

When asked what type of sandwich I'd like for lunch, I replied..

"Grilled Swan, with a light truffle sauce sprinkled with caramelized Panda liver on toasted whole meal bread made from sun dried Patagonian wheat..."

I got a Cheese sandwich...

The next day, when asked what type of sandwich I'd like - I simply made the same request - seemed sensible to me...

I got a Cheese sandwich again...

So the lesson in this story of culinary mischief is that sometimes, it doesn't matter what you ask for, your going to get what is available...

Sometimes it pays to dream big, and sometimes it pays to do a reality check first to avoid disappointment...

Sometimes you have to set your goals according to the reality of the situation you find yourself in...

And sometimes if you are being really creative, it may be that you have to get your own lunch...


In life and in business - wishing and hoping is not a strategy - getting up and getting on with it yourself may still be the only way to actually get what you want...



See if you Qualify for one of My Coaching Programs...

If you'd like to find out more about how working with a Business Coach will be the best investment you ever make - drop me a note to davidholland@resultsrulesok.com

You can even come along to one of our events, meet the team and some of our Clients and find out for yourself just how effective Business Coaching will be for you...

Click on the LINKS to find out more...

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If you don't think you could transform your business and your results by working with one of the Top Coaches in the Business, or simply can't be bothered to attend a One Day Workshop to find out more - then clearly you don't need contact me; in fact nothing you do will work so probably best if you give up now...

In that case, here's another website you may find helpful - www.samaritans.org

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