By John Counsel
This article was written for small business owners, but it applies equally to your personal life… think about how you can use it in your daily living.
The Bow and Arrow Principle is one of the highest forms of leverage you’ll ever use in your business. It says “if you want to hit your target with greater speed, power and accuracy, the first thing to do is… pull back!”
This applies particularly to planning and preparation — the highest leverage ways to gain control, because they put us in control of situations before they arise. Most of us, because we’re conditioned to put the highest value on being busy, feel guilty if we take time out to plan and prepare. We feel that we’re falling behind — that, somehow, if we don’t keep juggling all those balls in the air, everything will come crashing down around us.
What nonsense. We’re not in a race. That’s a false perspective!
Even if it were a race, it would be an ultra-marathon, not a sprint. So you’d have plenty of opportunity to recuperate after each stage. If you didn’t stop for meal, sleep and toilet breaks, you’d never last the distance. You’d be lucky to make it past the first stage. The Bow and Arrow Principle is about taking time out — to pull back — in order to get things into a more accurate and complete perspective.
When we get things in perspective, we talk about “putting the problem at arm’s length” and “seeing the big picture”.
The five cent solution
Try this simple exercise. Take a five cent coin and hold it as close to your eye as possible (without hurting yourself or damaging your spectacles, naturally). Now look at the nearest light.
What does the five cent coin do?
It blocks out the light, obviously.
Now hold it at arms length to the light and what happens?
You see it for what it really is — a tiny piece of metal worth very little.
It’s the same with problems of all kinds. Get too close to them and you lose your perspective. You won’t be able to see the solution, even if it’s staring you in the face. Until you get it at arm’s length you’ll continue to be frantically busy wrestling with minuscule problems, while the serious ones slip right by you, then lie in wait to trap you when you finally stumble into them, both eyes firmly fixed on the five cent coins held tightly against your eyes.
Unblock your vision!
Regain your accurate perspective. Stop feeling guilty about taking time out to think, plan, prepare and seize control in advance. Remember — there are no rewards for being busy — only for being productive.
Here’s how it really works.
Figure 1 represents the typical small business approach. Cut down on the planning — it’s “unproductive time” (!) — and make sure you’re busy. (Because if you’re busy, you must be making money. That’s the rationale behind this traditional loser lunacy.)
This approach guarantees that you’ll be busy, all right. Solving problems created by your own lack of planning. Re-doing things. Mending fences. Patching over cracks. Three steps forward and two steps back. All the usual frustrating, time-and money-and-effort-wasting activity that eats up the typical small business person’s day.
On the other hand, Figure 2 represents the Bow and Arrow Principle at work. By taking the time to plan and prepare, to undertake training and build relationships, we shorten the time and effort it takes to obtain the desired result.
The same result we were after in Figure 1!
The difference, once again, lies not in WHAT we do, but WHY and HOW we do it.
In Figure 1 you have less free time while earning your money (you wasted that free time on being busy).
In Figure 2 you enjoy more free time — for the same amount of money (or more).
Which makes more sense?
Like everything else we do, the bottom line is about balancing quantity and quality.
Beware of another false perspective!
At this point you may be wondering “but what about Ready… Fire… Aim”? Surely the two principles are in conflict here?
Not at all. Let’s take a moment to get the true perspective. (A perfect example of the Bow and Arrow Principle at work!)
Anyone who thinks that cutting back on planning and preparation in order to “cut to the chase” overlooks one important ingredient in “Ready… Fire… Aim!”
The first thing you have to do is get Ready.
It’s the only component of the three that hasn’t changed position.
And a critical part of getting Ready — planning and preparing — is to create the measurement and monitoring systems that will enable you to tell whether you’re on or off course on the way to your target.
Let’s go back to the idea of the bow and arrow.
The arrow is the real weapon.
The bow is just a form of leverage that gives you greater speed, power and accuracy for hitting your target. The bow doesn’t move toward the target. The arrow does.
Originally, the arrow was a spear that hunters and warriors threw by hand. The only leverage came from their arms. The Australian aborigines created their own unique form of leverage: they extended the length of their arms using a woomera, a stick with a crook on the end into which they fitted the ends of their spears to give them extra speed, power and accuracy in hitting their targets.
Now, imagine you’re a professional archer in the time of Robin Hood. You make your living by winning archery contests. Your very survival depends on hitting the bullseye on your targets within a specific time limit.
The winner is not the one who does it first. It’s the one who does it best or most. (Remember… in the legend, Robin won at Nottingham Fair by doing it better. He split the arrow of his opponent. BOTH of them hit the bullseye dead centre!)
You have several options for getting your arrows to the target:
- You can stand at the firing line and throw the arrow at the target by hand.
- You can remove all risk by carrying the arrow to the target and stabbing the bullseye. It will take much longer, especially running in both directions, but you’ll be sure to score a hit — if you’re not shot by other busy, hasty archers!
- You can stand at the firing line and fire arrows at the target. You may waste a few, but you’re sure to fine-tune your aim with practice. By the time anyone using options 1 or 2 scores a bullseye, you’ll have scored several.
- You could apply some creativity, vision, time, effort and discipline — and invent the crossbow!
The Bow and Arrow Principle in small business
Here are some examples of ways in which this powerful principle can be applied in your business. Why not invest the time, effort and discipline to think of some additional ways to apply this in your own situation?
- Prepare a Business Plan
- Review and revise your Business Plan
- Do some overdue market research
- Prepare a proper marketing strategy
- Develop an effective filing system
- Stick to it!
- Brainstorm problems with your staff
- Reward staff who create ways to increase productivity and profitability
- Do a personal productivity training program (“Seize the Day!” is ideal)
- Buy — and use — a good personal planner
- Plan each week
- Plan each day
- Review each day’s performance and results
- Do a proper strategy and brief for every advertisement or promotion
- Include time for your loved ones – relationships need time.
- Allow time for recreation, personal development, cultural pursuits and spiritual reflection.
Write some ideas of your own for enhancing the speed, power and accuracy with which you hit your targets in areas like customer relations, staff relations, supplier relations, bookkeeping and innovation.
See also “The Six Inch Hat Pin Perspective”
Taken from
“Don’t Go Into Small Business
Until You Read This Book!”
by John Counsel
Small Business Books 1996
My Aspie World 