“Groundhog Day” is a great movie. It’s funny and, in spite of the theme of the movie, it never gets old, even though it was released nearly 25 years ago.
Watching the evolution of Phil Connors as he relives the same day over and over again is also educational and inspirational. His daily do-over gives him a chance to grow and undo many of the failings that made him so unlikable.
Unfortunately, nobody else has the same opportunity to learn in a “day” like Phil. But if you had a do-over with your life or your company, what would you do differently the second time around?
Asking yourself that question is an exercise in introspection and soul-searching. It gives you a chance to look at your company and your life through a different lens. Would you be in the exact same place if you time traveled back five or 10 or 20 years and started again?
Aside from a few billionaires and some people who are incredibly disillusioned, most people would make changes to how they got to where they are.
You can’t travel back in time. You can’t go home again. The cliches abound about your inability to make changes to your past. But you can apply what you would do differently to your future decisions. Project yourself into the future five or 10 years and ask yourself what you need to do so that when you look back at that time, you answer “nothing” when you ask what you would do differently.
If you want help wondering what your company would look like if you had the chance to be Phil Connors, please reach out to me. My email address is [email protected].