Lyrics of course to that famous Christmas song, sung by Frank Sinatra.

Or was it Dean Martin? …

Actually, on further research, it was penned by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in 1945, and sung by many since, including the afore-mentioned greats.

It’s a song that usually springs to mind, and occasionally also absent-mindedly sung outloud (I use the word ’sung’ fairly liberally, others may differ in how they define the momentary outburst), whenever we get a covering of the white stuff here in England – and this week we’ve been getting our first dose of the season, along with some penetrating cold.

The problem with the weather in England is that you never quite know what you’re going to get, and it changes constantly.

So there’s no certainty that there will be snow in any particular winter … and for that reason, it’s not worth the investment that would be required in order for us to cope with it adequately.

Not just on a government level, but also on a personal level.

In fact, whenever it does snow, I secretly hope it will continue getting deeper and stay with us for weeks … simply because I can then justify getting kitted out properly, with snow chains for the car and clothing that kits me out like an Arctic explorer for food gathering expeditions (to the local shops, hopefully still well-stocked, rather than fishing through the ice, but hey, you can dream …) when the car can cope no more.

Of course, they’ll be the sledge with a well-trained pack of huskies to get the kids to school, not to mention the snow-mobile just for the fun of it.

Unfortunately, little excuse for this type of thing in England … unless you want to join the legion of eccentrics who seem to feel at home here, and live in a slightly-displaced reality … and my heart sometimes leans towards living in the Alaskan wilderness, with proper snow and ice expected and delivered at a similar time each year, where the proper kit is essential for survival, and you even get a nice grizzly bear or two thrown in for company.

(Side point … our neighbour in the last place we lived in, less than a year ago, lived permanently in the 1960s … from his car outside, still just about running, to his gramophone, and in fact nearly everything he owned, refusing to have anything to do with anything post-1960s, despite the reality of the 21st century that surrounded him outside his own imagined reality. And he was only in his 40s, never actually having lived in the era himself. This type of person fits right in in England … we breed them!)

Admittedly, I am a bit of a kit freak … more than that, I like coping in the type of crisis that major extended snowfall would bring (as long as it wasn’t too much of a crisis, we still had food on the table, adequate heating, a lack of any real danger, and I could just kind of, well, play, while busy justifying it as something else).

Not sure where it comes from … probably from reading books like Where Eagles Dare and watching films like Escape from Colditz as a kid, and vainly imagining myself as more than capable of the same heroic exploits.

As long as I had the right kit of course.

Oh, and as long as I’d had the same rigorous training …

And as long as the fights were really no more serious than the play ones I have with my 8 year old son, and it all ended relatively free of bullets, blood and broken bones.

But still …

In fact, what kills the illusion nowadays is my wife killing herself laughing at the thought of my even attempting such exploits.

Little does she know, ha ha! Then again, she’s probably right … hmphhh.

In reality (that is, the unimagined one outside my head), with the odd bit of snow and ice we get during winter, car journeys consist of grappling with the ice scraper along with everyone else, skidding along in the car, snow-chain-free, trying not to bash into the local bus, followed at destination by falling flat on my face when my un-cramponed boots hit a slightly skiddy patch.

Ice Station Zebra it is not.

It’s always a very focused time, away from home and the distractions that brings with it, time to focus purely on the business, rubbing shoulders with people who inspire and make you think outside the box … time to step back and gain some perspective on what I’m doing and why, and to plan, think ahead and focus, rather than just being in the thick of business and of normal life.

It’s also interesting being surrounded by people who have failed. Not once, but several times, and continue to do so. But their lack of fear of failure means they also succeed many times too, and succeed far more than those held down by fear of failure who never try anything.

Of relevance to this, one speaker … embarrassingly can’t remember who … brought up the following quote by Theodore Roosevelt:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

In fact, a lot can be learned from children, especially infants. When they learn to walk, it’s only through their failure to walk that they learn to do so. You have to fall over a certain number of times in order to eventually be able to stride forward confidently, head held high. There’s no other way to do it.

A couple weeks back, my one year old son, Pip, took his first step. Since then he’s taken his ‘first step’ several times, never quite getting to a second. But each time he falls over on trying to move his other foot ahead, his brain learns a new lesson. Each ‘failure’ is, excuse the pun, one more step towards his success. And he doesn’t let the falling over stop him, his determination to succeed is too strong.

A great book on this is Susan Jeffers’, ‘Feel the Fear, and Do It Anyway’, if you haven’t read it, get it now and do so.

Sometimes you just got to stride ahead, get out of your own way, and ‘do it anyway’ even though it may feel uncomfortable or alien. Eventually the discomfort will ease, and what feels uncomfortable today will feel natural tomorrow and will become part of who you are and ‘what you do’. You will have grown.

And that for me is a large part of the joy of running a business. It’s not the destination, which however far you get is always some way off, as bigger and brighter goals inevitably get set. It’s the journey of growth and discovery along the way.

There's some left, want some?

Our household is a mad house at the best of times, with four young children (and a hamster, can’t forget Tod!) … but yesterday was a case in point.

Found myself doing all of the following, all at the same time:

• Baking birthday cake for my now eight year old son, with the ‘help’ (ahem!) of my four year old daughter, off from school with the tail-end of a non-too-pleasant winter virus doing the rounds – not a bad result though, see pic (some left for today, wahey!)
• Skype chatting with one of my developers, getting an important piece of development onto one of our live systems
• Fielding phone calls from my wife, who was in hospital with our 1 year old Pip who’d been admitted for the same viral infection (out now though, he’s doing great) and kindly adding items to my to-do list and things to bring in when visiting later
• Trying to keep on top of emails, and failing miserably
• Tidying up and washing up and cleaning up after breakfast armaggedon that morning
• Stopping said cake from burning in the oven (though only just!)

And they say men can’t multi-task!

Actually enjoyed the timeout from the normal routine, especially the time with my four year old, inbetween various diversions, and doing multi-tasking that meant something other than switching between windows and browser tabs.

The mad house continues today – Pip back from hospital last night, but required lots of TLC last night, so not a lot of sleep to be had by either parent, and all four kids off from school today with same virus.

The point? Sometimes, stuff just happens, and you just have to roll with it …for example, I had quite a bit planned yesterday, and not a lot of it was done. It can however end up giving you a useful change in perspective and a reassessment of priorities, and it’s always a useful lesson in learning to be flexible and willing to adjust plans.

For example, what seems important one day, can fade away the next, especially when a child or other loved one is ill.

Stuff will always ‘come up’ that gets in the way of the best laid plans. That’s life.

But don’t throw the plan away. Adjust, and carry on. Persevere.

Saw a poignant poster in the hospital yesterday while visiting Pip, loved the quote:

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.

Steve Shaw with Dan Kennedy in London ... yes, I know, photographer should be shot, and so should I for having my eyes closed at the crucial moment ... but can't win 'em all! (At least Dan's awake)

Met the great Dan Kennedy (again) in London this past weekend, at a Renegade Millionaire conference ran by him and fellow UK entrepreneur Chris Cardell of Cardell Media (you can see Chris in the background on the photo here, the bearer of wine).

A fairly intimate occasion, relative to other conferences I’ve been to, with less than 200 other business owners … and I learned some real nuggets of wisdom to say the least.

He doesn’t often come to the UK … in fact, he’s only been twice, and even then not left London … but have been fortunate enough to catch him both times.

Truth be told, his marketing knowledge and wisdom is a huge influence on both me and my business, and long may that continue … he’s one astoundingly astute individual, and sometimes makes me feel guilty for sleeping (I’m not being productive enough!) …

I was also personally mentored by Chris Cardell for a year (also a huge Dan fan), and the results are still bearing fruit in my own business several months down the line, and will continue to do so.

So all in all, a good event for me to attend … and very beneficial business-wise.

At the least, I’d recommend you pick up one of Dan’s books on Amazon … could be the best business move you made all year.

Who said that?

Oh yes …

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

- John Lennon