There’s a few things us Brits are well known for.

Afternoon tea …. Fish and chips …. Being super polite …. And of course, complaining about the weather. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like. We will complain about it. Too cold, too hot, too grey, too windy, too frosty. You name it, we moan about it. The weather is our go to icebreaker, the most common topic discussed with checkout staff, and something we all inherently have in common here. But this week, we have good reason to complain. It’s absolutely scorching. 

Now, I know, I know. Some of my Middle Eastern friends reading this will laugh when I say that we’ve hit a whopping 35 degrees here. But I’m not kidding you, it’s rough. We’re not kitted out for this kind of weather. It’s humid. We don’t really have aircon in our homes, our buildings are built to keep the heat in, not out, and we’re woefully unprepared. You’ve no idea how many social media posts I’ve seen from desperate people willing to pay double the usual price for a second hand fan. But the thing is, there’s not really any excuses for being unprepared now. The past few summers have been “record-breaking” and this is our second heatwave this summer. How did you get to heatwave no. 2 without even buying a fan? 

I think the answer is that too many people live in the moment. They don’t plan ahead, they deal with whatever curveballs life throws at them, then go straight back to blissful ignorance when it all calms down. And that’s how a lot of people run their businesses too. They do their bookkeeping once a year as their tax deadline rolls around, they scrabble together a marketing campaign when the leads go dry, or they pay over the odds for their freight because they left it too late to get the best rates. They’re living reactively, not strategically, and that’s got to be a stressful place to live. 

So next time you find yourself a little stuck and unprepared, don’t just firefight in the moment. When things calm down, sit back, take a moment, and plan ahead so that, should the same situation occur again, you’ll be ready. Buy that fan you didn’t have in the heatwave when the shelves are restocked because it’s raining, do your marketing regularly, not reactively and pre plan your Christmas freight delivery in August so you get better rates and routes. 

So what about you? Are you a planner or a reactor? I’d love to hear your thoughts…