One day last year, out of nowhere, I had a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I’m not even sure how it happened or where it came from quite honestly. What I did know was that it was seriously impacting my happiness and my ability to sleep at night!
As I was thinking about it recently, I realized a connection between my experience and family business and family business coaching.
At first I thought I could just “gut it out” and the pain would go away and I would have my life back. After several weeks, I began to realize I needed help (and I’ve never reached out to a physical therapist before by the way).
Here’s where the lessons start to unfold.
The shoulder, or any body part, is a lot like family business. It’s really complicated and there are so many moving parts and underlying possibilities. It can be pretty hard to pinpoint the problem.
When the shoulder, or the family business, aren’t quite right, it can cause a lot of pain, suffering and lost sleep.
When I got to the physical therapist, he went through a series of small exercises and movements to help him and me isolate what part of the shoulder was having an issue.
He then prescribed a series of small, and yes somewhat annoying, exercises that I would show up and perform under his supervision a couple of days a week over the next four weeks. Low and behold my shoulder issues went away and have not recurred since.
The lessons?
Many times an expert can help you diagnose the issue.
A series of somewhat small, and not that painful exercises, can really help you repair damage and build muscle so as to not have the problem again.
Sometimes, it’s better to reach out and get help from others, than suffer or go through years of pain that could have been remedied with a little bit of expert help. In fact, like you, I’ve been reluctant at times to reach out for help. The shoulder injury and the resulting good experience at the physical therapy office taught me an important lesson. You need to set aside your pride and reach out for help.
I experienced firsthand, long-term family business stress that was causing significant issues physically, mentally and emotionally both at work and at home.
I hope you will take this story and consider that sometimes a little bit of help goes a long way. Our Family Business Playbook and Family Business Fundamentals Course are also self-study ways to get help.
Our Reality Check Session with a coach is also another way to get expert advice on diagnosing the situation. We are here to help.
Play to your potential!
Coach Pete
Pete Walsh offers family business consulting services, workshops, tools and resources as the founder of the Family Business Performance Center. Subscribe to his newsletter or get in touch to get actionable insights to help your family business grow for generations to come.
This exercise and many more are in my Family Business Playbook to help your family win!
