When things are good, they’re great.

When things are bad, they seem insurmountable.

Projects, careers, jobs, days, and years’ all experience highs and lows.

Moving to the next project at a high can seem like we had a success.

Ending a project when we’re at a low can seem like it was a failure.

Both situations may not be accurate. The result might be due to good, or poor, timing. The length of time in a project can determine success.

How long can you manage the highs and lows of your business?

The highs

The highs are fun. We’re killing it!

As we watch The Wolf of Wall Street, view Enron’s trajectory, or American Real Estate in the mid-2000s, the high is great. Everyone is making money. We’re living like rock stars.

If not managed, a crash follows. As with all three of these situations, you think nothing bad can happen. Then, the bad happens.

We glorify the highs with excess. Not management and preparation for sustainable growth. Sustainability for when the things begin to turn.

This is when we hit the lows.

The lows

Rising up from nothing is the American Dream. As an American, I love the story of the person who rose up when all odds were against them.

What happens is managing a low situation. This can also happen in our sales, marketing, and business.

A time where nothing works. The key is managing this period until the next high. Where we begin killing it again.

The lows happen to all of us. What I find difficult, is when your lows are coming at the time of another person’s highs.

For example, missing quota while colleagues are crushing it. Attending the sales meeting is not easy. Next quarter, though, the tables might be turned. It is merely a low before the next high.

At this point, maintaining the courage and motivation to continue is the only option. Moving forward when nothing seems to work.

The highs and lows of business

Managing the highs means we continue looking for new opportunities. Maintain the process that got us to the high. Hopefully, mitigating the damage of the lows.

When we hit the low, managing and continuing to the next high is the only path forward. If the past can provide any indicator to the future, we know there is a high on the horizon.

The question is: how do we get there?

In football, teams can come out of the second half and begin their comeback.

They had 15 minutes to pause, reflect, and regroup.

The same can be applied to projects and our careers.

I have taken two major pauses recently. A pause in learning German and a pause in my blogging.

One was a poor decision, the other might turn out to be good. That is yet to be seen.

A pause can take two forms. It can provide the necessary time to regroup and reflect. Then, go out and crush the second half.

Or, it can kill momentum.

The trick is knowing when it is time to take a pause and when it is time to push forward. Enduring the difficult road ahead.

Taking a pause that loses momentum

A pause that loses momentum is a start-stop problem. In sports, a long pause in training can leave you out of shape.

A long pause in sales, such as a longer than normal vacation, can leave you the amount of time you were gone behind. It could also be more than that. It’s a gap in filling the sales funnel.

Or, when learning a language, it’s use it or lose it. A long pause causes us to forget words. A need for remedial work.

Taking a pause to regroup

A pause to regroup, on the other hand, can bring life back to achieving goals.

A productive pause, such as a sabbatical, can create much-needed rest. An ability to clear our mind. Renewing our sense of purpose.

This pause is like the football team that comes back from a 25-point deficit in the second half. Ultimately winning the game.

Coming back after a pause

The most difficult part of any pause is coming back after the break. Starting again.

In many projects, starting the first time is difficult. Not to mention having to do it twice.

When considering a pause, it might be, like anything, worth asking why. A pause for the right reasons can move us forward.

On the other hand, a pause because things are difficult can do more harm than good.

Not all pauses are created equal. We should not take the decision to take a pause lightly.

If you’re looking for someone to tell you what to do next, you might be disappointed when there’s no answer.

We are not trained to have the answer for what to do next. We are not trained to be self managed.

Early in school, we are told to seek guidance and wait for instruction. Those who are self managed get punished.

The same goes in a traditional work place. The traditional environment does not want you to be self managed. You might get a lose canon. You might get someone working on the wrong things.

In defense of this system, you do not want an entire team to be self managed. At least not all the time.

Why?

Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

Moving together in the same direction is difficult. It takes a strong leader. It takes followers.

But, if you clearly define a strategy and everybody is on board, the right team can be self managed.

The struggle, though, is defining the strategy and having your team on board.

Difficult up front, but the better long term strategy.

It is important to decide whether you want a team of self managed individuals or followers.

If you hire one and expect another, everyone will be disappointed.

Good luck and good selling!

There are a couple ways to look at failure.

Fear of failing being the reason we don’t act.

What we glorify as the striving entrepreneur.

It is two extremes. Fear and ambition.

There are two constructive ways to look at this:

Trying something, it not working, then moving on.

Trying something, it not working, then giving up.

In both situations, something did not work. One is learning and one is fear of not trying a second time.

In sales we learn to fail and move on. It happens every time someone says no. In most cases, the more times we fail the more times we are bound to succeed. It is a numbers game.

Giving up is one way to ensure failure. Giving up ensures a lost sale. Every other time it is trying something and it not working.

How often do you fail?

Good luck and good selling!

I moved to Germany in January 2015.

From San Francisco.

Actually Alameda, but a distinction with little difference.

I moved form the most expensive place in the U.S. to the second most expensive place in Germany. The Bay Area is still two and a half times more expensive.

Comparing prices is not the point. The point is to share a few things I have learned after a little over a year of living in Germany.

I am now gainfully employed with a Startup that is doing big things for the speed of the Internet, as well as enjoying the European lifestyle.

Germany is in the Western World, which means the lifestyle and cultural differences are not too great. The biggest difference is language.

Here are 10 things I have learned after living a year in Germany.

Go for long walks

Walking is very European, and the cities in Germany are designed to make walking to destinations easy. Also, parking is difficult.

More importantly, going for a stroll is important for health and relaxation. Sunday’s, everybody goes for a “Spaziergang”. The direct translation is to go for a relaxing stroll. The English word would be a “promenade”, but I think this is a bit pretentious.

I enjoy my Sunday Spaziergang.

Don’t be so sensitive

Sensitive in the German language, according to my German teacher, is a negative word. You are encouraged to be direct, so you need thick skin.

Don’t be offended so easily.

Pay with cash

When I lived in America I never carried cash. Always payed with a credit card. I treated this as cash, as I lived within my means. I know that this is not the norm for most Americans. But for Germans, the only reason to have a credit card is to make purchases online. Credit card rewards programs are uncommon.

The result is people do not have credit card debt, and if they do not have the money, they do not buy things. I think the byproduct of this is prices stay significantly lower. Making the standard of living a bit more affordable.

Take time for lunch

Regularly I worked and ate lunch at the same time. This was done either through a working lunch while in trainings, or eating while driving. Currently, I take time for lunch. This is sitting in the kitchen and eating. The view is this is an important break during the day.

A side note to this is multitasking. It is viewed to be more productive to do one thing at a time, and lunch is no exception. There is evidence to suggest that people cannot multitask.

We are not so busy or important that we cannot take 30 minutes for lunch.

Don’t work too late

When you continually stay late at the office, Germans view this negatively. This is viewed as not having a good home life.

The question asked: why would you not want to go home and see your family?

Make communication easier for your listener

In America we do not learn languages. Although more of the world does not speak English than does, there is an expectation that people should try to communicate with us. Not the other way around.

When your language is not a world language, this perception is very different. It is normal to speak multiple languages to better communicate with people. The view of communication is to make an effort to communicate in a way that is easier for the person you’re speaking with.

Enjoy long dinners

Dinner at a restaurant in Germany is an affair. It regularly takes 3 hours to have dinner at a restaurant. The reason is nobody is there to rush you. The point of dinner is to sit and have nice conversation with those you are with.

Otherwise, why would you go?

You can want what you want

Just because you want something does not mean you are going to get it. There’s not much I can say about this statement. It speaks for itself.

Don’t make quick decisions

When purchasing a car, my wife and I wanted to sign the paperwork that day. This is normal to us, as in America you are not allowed to walk off the lot without purchasing something.

This was not possible in Germany. We looked at a car on Friday night and were forced to call back Monday to confirm we still wanted the car. We had to take the weekend to think about it.

Do not make quick decisions. It is better to sleep on it.

There is a different way, be open to consideration

Food is different in Germany. Two examples:

Eggs do not have to be refrigerated. Why? They are not washed. When you wash eggs, you remove a microbial layer on the eggs that protects them from salmonella. Without the protective layer, you need to put eggs in the refrigerator to prevent salmonella. In order to not wash eggs, you can no longer cage the chickens. The result is cage free eggs you do not need to refrigerate.

Pork can be eaten raw. There is a meal called “Mett”, which is raw pork. We believe in America that pork has to be cooked, and over cooked at that. But Mett proves this is not so. I have tried Mett, did not get sick, and it isn’t bad.

There might be better approaches to things, especially food. We just have to be open to try.

Your urgency is not my problem

In the American business environment, everything is urgent. It is not easy to be proactive, as most of the day is reactionary.

Ignoring the urgency of others might be something worth emulating.

kein Stress, kein Angst

This is the German phrase for “no stress, no anxiety”. Stress and anxiety are viewed negatively, which results in a more peaceful and zen-like environment. I still have the inherent American anxiety, which living in the Bay Area puts this feeling on steroids.

It is difficult to suppress these feelings with the number of top 30 under 30 lists being produced. The feeling of inadequacy when you have not made your first billion by 25 is tough to overcome.

Maybe kein Stress, kein Angst is better for our health?

I know I said 10, but there is too much I have learned over the past year that I felt compelled to share. Although, this is not a complete list.

There are things I find better in Germany, but America has a business appeal the world envies. It is not that one Country is better, just different.