Today was crazy. I’m leading the rebrand of our company. We’re sunsetting three brands and creating a whole new one. I decided to go the “Friday we’re X, Monday we’re Y” route. It’s cleaner, but a bit more nerve-racking, and more work in a shorter timeframe. I don’t know that I’ve ever worked so hard while traveling, putting out fires via email, text, and phone, mainly from airports and aircraft.
This brings me to an interesting place. My flight to Michigan today had two legs – ATL to BWI, and then BWI to GRR. The first flight of my day didn’t have WiFi on the plane. I spent the first couple hours of the day in the dark about anything regarding the rebrand. Because I’ve done this a few times before, I wasn’t nervous, though I found it odd being incognito for the first two hours of a huge change in our business of which I’m in charge. Experience and the support of a great team has brought me to a place where that was okay.
The second flight did have WiFi, so I was able to work through the flight.
This prior Saturday was a different kind of crazy. My daughter and I went dirtbiking at Durhamtown Plantation. It’s been raining pretty heavily in Georgia, so the trails were really muddy. The words “This place is a bog” crossed my mind.
Normally I have no trouble keeping up with and passing my daughter at will. I have a lot of experience on a motorcycle and a faster machine. This past Saturday was different. I’ve been running a trials tire on the front of my dirtbike, which is great in the dry. It’s terrible in the mud. It tends to get packed with mud, turning it into a mud slick. This meant that when the mud was thick for any length of time, I had no control over the front end. Keeping the bike upright was difficult, turning damned near impossible. When the going got muddy, my daughter was able to just run away from me, since her bike had a proper front tire for mud.
What do these two days have in common? The importance of having the right equipment, and how sometimes experience can get you through when you don’t.