What We Found

Each fall for the last four years, my wife and I have taken a week’s vacation at our place in northern Vermont in October. And while we could sit around and watch the leaves change from our deck, my wife is always eager to get out and see new places.  This year we did a bit of biking, hiking and kayaking.

The first paddle we did was on Otter Creek and while it looked great on the map, it ended up being a tour through a relatively built up area of Vermont. Mostly what we saw was people’s backyards.

A few days later, we packed up the boats and drove north for an hour an half to Swanton Vt, right on the Candian border. Our destination was the Missisquoi Nation Wildlife Refuge. It’s over 6,500 acres of feeding and breeding habitat for migratory birds at the northern end of Lake Champlain.

We paddled a 12 mile route through the refuge and during the 4 hours we were in our boats saw over 30 Great Blue Herons and a host of other birds and one hunter, who was getting ready for the opening of duck season the following day.

We had a spectacular day on the water.

My point?

Do the same thing you’ve always done and you’ll get the same results. Or try going new  places, and yes you’ll occasionally be disappointed but you’ll also discover incredible places you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

The same is true in business. If you want to succeed, you need to keep trying new ways to get better results. Yes, some will fall flat, but if you have a 50% success rate for every new idea you try, you’ll be making more than most in no time flat.
– Charlie Cook