I was attacked by a mountain lion

Ok, that's the story I'm going with.

It beats telling people I tripped and fell on my face while hiking the Grand Canyon!

After hiking back to civilization, I found a cute Ranger to take me to the Canyon's clinic where they put a few stitches in my knee, and bandaged of various extremities. Xrays showed I also broke my nose (nice shiners, huh?)

How, you may ask, am I going to tie this into a business lesson... well, I've found a few ways:

1. it is ALWAYS possible to find the positive in any situation. I did NOT break my hand or my knee caps, which would have been a much greater handicap than breaking my nose. I don't type with my nose (although I have tried it after too many glasses of red wine).

2. I had to stay an extra day in the Canyon after being put back together again by all the king's men at the great clinic. However, because I have processes in place, and most everything is outsourced, I didn't have to worry about my business grinding to a hault. My incredible team took care of everything.

3. The personal lessons were numerous, but the most important seems to be to slow down. I was hiking at a fast pace. Now that I can't walk so well, I have to hooble slowly everywhere. It's changed my normally fast pace of life into a more deliberate pace, where I watch every little thing that's happening.

4. Misteps will occur in life and in business. It's HOW we deal with them that counts. After I fell, my brain kicked into survival mode. I felt no emotion, just focused on problem solving. I found myself creating a process in my head!
Step 1: hike back to civilization;
Step 2: Assess and clean injuries;
Step 3: Get medical attention.

So when emergencies happen in your business, reacting emotionally may not get you to a solution. Rather, assessing the damage and devising a plan of action will more quickly help you past the situation.

So when faced with a "mountain lion" stay cool, get help, and above all... remain positive!

Barbara (aka Scarface)