Time Stand Still - Rush

To catch my breath, before I start off again…

I could have chosen a couple of ‘Time’ songs for today’s blog - but this 1987 Rush Anthem has all the lyrics I require to illustrate my thoughts on ‘Complacency’. A wonderful word meaning ‘a feeling of calm satisfaction with one’s own abilities or situation that prevents one from trying harder’… A hot topic in my world - and one where there are many examples in business and in sport where people have been so confident in their continued success, that they take their foot off the gas and have been overtaken by their competitors, lost market share or have plainly started to lose instead of winning all the time. 

Here are three such stand outs for me…

M&S – A classic retail self-combustor (I could have chosen from many). By continuing with their tired high-street presence and not developing their on-line – it’s cost them dearly. At the beginning of January 2018, it was revealed that the retailer was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100. Amazon’s click and deliver will be the end of many such retailers as people buy more and more from their armchairs. No doubt there will be an ‘Amazon-Destroyer’ in the future, so watch this space, but right now, the vultures are already circling our high streets – The House of Fraser and Mike Astley? Who’d have thought that one a few years back?

Driven on without a moment to spend,

I’d like to pause, no matter what I pretend…

BMW – Whoosh, just when did AUDI overtake BMW? I reckon it was in the early 2000s. B’mers became very samey as I remember. One 3 Series looked very much like another and the smart money bought an AUDI. Cheaper, easier to maintain and far better-looking IMO it was a no-contest. Okay, they might have re-overtaken since but for a time you couldn’t beat an AUDI – especially with the ‘S’ and the superfast ‘RS’ beating the pants off a very tired M3 and M5. I believe BMW have been saved by the MINI with its ability to be totally ‘Personalised’. It’s transformed how cars are built, with ‘just in time’ working in overdrive making only cars that are desired and pre-ordered. Hopefully this means far less Pink, Lime Green and Yellow ones on the road and on the forecourt. The Personal Contract Purchase or ‘PCP’ will alter the market even more as folk will simply buy what they can afford to pay monthly rather than use up their cash or HP. People are buying more expensive cars with their PCP and maybe, the small cars days are numbered. The ‘Top Gear’ days of motoring certainly are as Clarkson et Al fell into the ‘Complacency-Trip’ big time.

Manchester United - Oh Jose - Now there’s a team that has to perform. Sitting back, expecting to win at least one major trophy a year was a prerequisite of the Fergie years and after a shaky start - Fergie delivered. Taking over from such a successful dynasty proved too much for David Moyles and will soon be too much for Jose too. It’s not his fault, the Owners have simply not invested in the right person. The players are just as good as any other Premier League Club - if not better. They just can’t play under Jose and are now losing out to their fellow Manchester club who have invested, played and paid their way to success.

Do they know? Do they care?

I wonder if M&S are really bothered if we shop there or not? Whether BMW are happy with their MINI revival and whether Man U will start winning and finish in the Top 6 to match the fans desire for success? Will Jose see the season out?

  

I wonder if there’s time to pause in such busy circumstances – rolling from one bad quarter, bad sales figures or poor results – it must be soul-destroying? Yet in each case they could easily be Top-Dogs of their Market Sector by 2020. We’ve all seen it, one bright spark comes in, brings in some fresh ideas and suddenly everything changes for the better. Apple for instance now have to consolidate on their incredible iPhone success but now we all have one. Keeping their market share and folk ‘Apple-Addicted’ will really take a lot of time and development during whilst their competitors will be desperately trying to invent the next chapter of keeping the world, that’s you and I, connected. 

Jose? Well like all football managers, is a few lost matches from a P45 and won’t be anywhere near Manchester in the New Year or even November at the team’s current form.

In all three cases, it’s like it doesn’t matter enough.

Like some pilgrim who learns to transcend,

Learns to live as if each step was the end…

Keeping the focus and thirst for success over an extended period of time and being able to combine it with the flexibility needed to manage the fluctuations that just creep up on you when you are least looking, is one of the key factors to prolonged success.

Freeze this moment a little bit longer,

Make each sensation a little bit stronger…

If only you could freeze the moment as nothing stays the same – not even for very long in real terms and fashions and trends come and go before you know it. In the world of marathons and ultra-marathons I’ve witnessed many races and events come and go- - be the go-to can’t get into event that fills in minutes on-line to be surpassed by it’s competitors or simply by choice. The Marathon des Sables needs to take stock as its in recession, still believing that there are 1200 adventure hungry folk out there desperate to pay £4000 to take part in the ‘World’s Toughest Footrace’ feels myopic to me especially when there are plenty more out there to choose from - it means that for the MdS, it’s going backwards.

Close my eyes, let my defences down, 

All those wounds, that I can’t get unwound…

Being oblivious to change is so unbelievably dangerous and when complacency sets in, it’s corrosion eats away at your very soul and before you know it – everything you ever had turns to dust.

Just one ‘off the record’ comment can create the moment where everything suddenly turns on its head. Using a football analogy ask Ron Atkinson or Andy Gray if they’re happy with what they said or Jamie Carragher what he did. Careers in tatters, in a matter of a very careless seconds.

I let my past go too fast, no time to pause

If I could slow it all down, like some captain, whose ship runs aground….

Slowing everything down? Well that’s tricky nowadays in our busy lives but a simple ‘Time-Out’ every day, just half-an-hour, can make all the difference and offers time for deep and considered thought. One where you can stake stock, plan and go onto make things happen.

Make each impression, a little bit stronger

Freeze this motion, a little bit longer…

I believe taking stock as you go along really helps and constant evaluation and realigning stops the ‘Complacency Corrosion’ taking hold. Altering course shouldn’t be an issue and avoiding pitfalls and finding quicker routes is imperative for continued success.

Summer’s going fast, nights growing colder

Children growing up, old friends growing older…

And there’s the rub – nothing stands still. Father time catches up with everything and everyone eventually. For my Granddad who would have been 100 years old today, it did forty years too soon. A life never fully lived and one that missed out on a world of pleasure I feel he would have enjoyed no end.

Time stand still, I’m not looking back…

Because life is only ever going to speed-up. Maybe it’s time we all took a complacency test and check how much we take anything and everything for granted and question our futures and ask ourselves what would happen ‘What if?’…

How ‘Complacent’ are you right now? What do you control? And how much do outside factors, control you?

1,025 Marathons, 248 ULTRAs, 9 Marathon des Sables & 15 Marathon des Sables