I’ll let you in on a little secret: Half the time, my in-box is a mystery to me. Last year, I changed jobs, and the learning curve has been steep. It’s been fun, engaging, immersive, and sometimes exhausting, just like 2020!
Are you also in the process of reinvention? Is there something that you had all figured out that you’ve decided to upgrade? You’ll get that upgrade if you also make an uncomfortable intention, and that is to re-examine what used to be set in stone.
Let me tell you how a successful restaurateur used soft skills to reboot his mindset and his business.
In early 2020, everything was going great for Sung Kim. His restaurant, Chick-N-Bap, had expanded to five locations on college campuses in upstate New York. But everything changed once COVID hit. Sung knew the situation was dire when the Director of Dining at SUNY Cortland pulled him aside in the middle of lunch service to tell him campus was closing. He remembers, “When I look back now, I clearly had no idea what was going to come after. It got a lot worse.”
The pandemic shutdown had one silver lining, and that was that it gave him time to rethink the future of his business. He said, “I follow these entrepreneur start-up pages, and they all say the same thing: Companies that become successful are the ones that innovate and provide value during hard times. I remember telling my team that everybody is probably looking to play defense and just maintain and survive. But given how little we had, we needed to get on the offense without spending all of our resources.”
“So, we thought, What could we do without spending so much money? One, we improved every back-end system that we built in place from day one, from how we do inventory to how we order and prep. We [also] ended up working on a 250-page manual over time to make sure that, if the opportunity came for franchising, we would be ready and wouldn’t have to scramble for time. We also recreated all of our existing recipes, and the sole purpose of that was to make them better.”
As you listen to Sung Kim’s story, did you catch how many times he used the soft skill of discernment to drive his business forward? For instance, Sung:
* Decided he wouldn’t sit on the sidelines. He repurposed downtime for visioning;
* Re-examined his back-end systems, looking to solve small, everyday pain points before they became big problems;
* Chose to prepare for a future that may include franchising; and
* Opted to go back to basics, improving the essentials—the recipes that drove sales.
Discernment is an uncomfortable intention because it can sometimes feel painful. Old, enthusiastic, “Hell, yes!” choices become a “Nope,” or, at best, a “Maybe.” But the upside is that taking time to reflect and make smart choices brings you into the present. You’re not repeating an old blueprint—you’re drawing a brand, new roadmap.
Here are three ways for you to conquer the uncomfortable intention to reboot:
In the January series, Four Ways to Conquer Uncomfortable Intentions, we’ve discussed how intentions that make you a little uncomfortable—like discovering how to push past adversity, honing your timing so you know when to push forward or stand still, or understanding when to say, “Pass!” to something that seems too good to be true—are worth making because they’re the real game changers. Successful intention setting isn’t about chasing, striving, or seeing how much you can get done in a day. Instead, it’s about reaching your goals with insight and confidence by acting like the creative, wise CEO of your life—a Soul Boss.
Soft skills are the How to conquer uncomfortable intentions. Here’s a recap of what we’ve learned:
Don’t leave your intentions sitting in a drawer, even when awkward moments happen. Use soft skills—like adaptability, creativity, discernment, and healthy self-esteem—to light them up.