Essential Tools For Your Journey

One-off purchases, monthly subscriptions, we all have them…

But which are the truly essential tools for your journey?

Let’s use an airplane metaphor to unpack what matters most:

Comfy seats are nice to have. This is what many people spend a lot of their time thinking about; where on the plane they’re sitting, what meal they’ll be served, and how much leg room they’ll have. This is your company car, your wristwatch, your fancy suit. Many strive to achieve these things, despite being the least important facet of this metaphor.

**Wings and engines are for survival. **You won’t maintain altitude without them. Without fuel you won’t stay in the sky, but you’ll at least have a chance of gliding down to safety. This is your product, your craft tools, your ops. Without these, you’re dead – yet so many spend so much more time dreaming of comfy seats.

Fuel is for getting where you want to go. You have the things that keep you in the sky. Marketing and advertising, training and learning, product development. Do you have enough fuel in the tank to definitely get you where you want to go, or did you pump less so you could have a nicer seat?

The cargo is the point. You’re taking something to somewhere for someone, aren’t you? Without this, what’s the airplane ride even for? If you’re on a mission to solve problems for people who really need it, this needs as much enthusiasm as the integrity of the vehicle and the gas in the tank. Do you remember – and remind your peers daily – why you’re in the air?

Is the goal to get the cargo where it needs to go – to accomplish the mission you set out to achieve – or is the goal to have comfy seats in the sky?

Remember why you’re making the trip. It’ll help ensure you get there, and in one piece.