Lessons from a 5-year-old

Our grandson, Josh, played his 1st soccer game of the season this morning. Proud grandparents that we are, I wanted to share that he scored the 1st goal, too. And 2 more in their 5-4 win. Of course, they're told that they don't keep score, and playing soccer - at this age - is just for fun. So it was interesting to listen to his remarks ... "We're winning!" ... "Oh, man, they're beating us." ... "We won! We won!" Even though he was told it doesn't matter, he knows better.

He knows, even at this young age, that it's important to measure achievements. I was just told last week on his birthday that he can now reach the light switch "because I'm 5 now." He can pour his own juice "because I'm 5 now." He does a lot of things today that he couldn't do just a couple weeks ago. Why? Because he's 5 now.

A business owner must continually learn, stretch, keep score and discover new things we can do, too. This economy has taught us that. And it sometimes takes a 5 year old to remind us that competition is tough, and it does matter if we win or lose. More importantly, it matters that you can do things now that you couldn't do yesterday.