I’ve always been a do-it-yourselfer. I’ve taught myself a great many things by taking this attitude.

When I bought my first house, I completely gutted it - down to the timbers in most rooms. In other places, we removed and moved walls. For instance, I created a large, walk-in closet in our huge bedroom where there was once a little coat room.

When it came to moving plumbing, rerouting and adding electrical, drywall, replacing subfloor, moving my toilets and bathtub drains - I basically did it all. And in most cases, I took to each project never having done it before.

But at some point, you have to live in  your house. And that means it has to get done - as my wife might say, “be livable.”

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I want to share a business secret with you. It’s a secret that you may know already - a least mentally. Yet it’s a secret that often separates highly successful businesses from the less successful ones.

Are you ready? Okay…

No matter how well developed your business is; no matter how many years you’ve been doing it, how many customers you’ve served, how much money you’re making - your business will forever be a work in progress.

I heard this years ago from a colleague and fluffed it off with the usual, “yeah, of course!” But I was missing the juice of it. Only recently have I gotten a clear understanding of what it means. And only recently have I taken a close look at how having an unfinished business is the secret to success. [ continue reading & share your thoughts → ]

Oddly enough, I was outside the box thinking about thinking outside the box just the other day.

What I discovered was something interesting…once I was outside the box, I was free. I could run, dance, play all I wanted. There were no boundaries, only wide-open spaces. No responsibilities, no deadlines, and no structure. Just unabated freedom.

But that wasn’t the interesting part. Being footloose and fancy free was fun, for a while. That’s right, for a while.

After a short time, however, I got board. I started looking back at the box. I moved slowly toward it. And when I got near, I peered inside. I realized the box wasn’t that bad. It provided structure and boundaries that made me productive. It also gave me sense of purpose since I was responsible for my clients, my family, myself.

Soon, I saw the box not as a prison, but as a container. A container with limitations, sure. Yet as romantic as it sounds to be completely free, it’s the limitations that give our lives meaning. Without them, we’d never accomplish anything.

You see, what I’ve learned is that our boxes aren’t bad things. They’re quite the opposite, actually. They give us perspective on where we’ve been, where we are and where we want to go. It’s good to think outside the box, otherwise you’d never grow. And the funny thing about growing is that soon you should out grow your box and need to build a larger one.

Are you thinking outside your box? When’s the last time you built a larger one?