One of the highlights of my year is my skiing holiday. I love the freedom of skiing as well as being with a large group of family and friends – fun, freedom and friends – ingredients that epitomise my core values!
However, in 2018 a ‘cloud’ appeared that ruined the trip for me – I sustained a knee injury and 2 days into our holiday I was laid up with a knee the size of a watermelon!
On returning, I created a recovery plan (on the advice of a physio) and started an exercise regime of gym and cycling, and even completed the London to Brighton cycle race in September – enabling me to achieve one of my life goals (the first sign of the silver lining).
Fast forward a year and whilst the damaged knee was much better it had taken its toll on the other knee! Again, no skiing for 2019 which called for a more structured recovery plan – I am not going to miss 2020! This time I signed up the big guns and met with a highly recommended sports physio that my son had used for his cricket injury.
I have now had four sessions, with state of the art equipment and extremely painful deep tissue massages (I nearly got off the table last time!). It seems to be working and the knee is improving without the need for invasive surgery.
In addition to re-connecting with cycling, a sport that comes a good second to skiing giving me that feeling of complete freedom, the major silver lining came from the inspiration that the physio gave me in terms of how to better help my clients.
In my last session he asked me to connect with his clinic on Instagram. He browsed his Instagram feed that includes lots of short video demos of how to do specific exercises for specific injuries or conditions across a range of therapies, found the exercise recommended for my knee complaint, copied the link and put it in a direct message to me. Bam! I had the link – no trawling through his website, waiting for a follow up email or reading difficult instructions!
I realised how this could benefit all our businesses and improve the experience for clients:
- Communication with clients could be so much easier in the moment – no more email, no more having to send attachments – simply send a direct message in Instagram and the client gets a short video on a relevant topic
- Clients would have a valuable “add-on” experience which makes them more likely to work with us again, and tell their friends
- Content created for the Instagram posts/videos will last forever and be there for clients to view whenever they want to revisit it or refresh themselves
I may not have spotted the silver lining in this cloud had I not been open to ideas and always looking for opportunities to grow. Also, seeing the physio took me out of normal work context which may have shifted my perspective and my habitual way of thinking that could have stopped me from thinking more broadly.
So, whatever problems life throws at you, open your mind and look for the silver lining – you might just discover something that makes the pain worth it!