Day 13: The Famous Turtle Strategy

Two weeks ago, in the midst of a #CustomerLove Tweetchat, somebody (I wish I knew who now) said something about a, “turtle strategy.”  Not knowing what this is, I followed the next logical step and asked:

What is the turtle strategy?

It turns out, it wasn’t some famous strategy, it was more of someone trying to communicate that the steady route is the route to the top.  The more I thought about it, I figured that this deserves to be a famous strategy, so with the addition of a few capital letters, I’d like to introduce you to…

The Turtle Strategy!

If only the rest of the, “Make famous theory,” job was as easy as adding capital letters 😉  Just because it’s not famous yet, doesn’t mean that we can’t use it to improve our businesses and love our customers better.

This is my third Customer Love Challenge and I’m starting to realize that each successive challenge has built on the past one for me.

There is a beauty in the consistency of showing up and loving my customers.  There hasn’t been astronomical growth behind each challenge, but there has always been recognizable growth.

1. Deliberate & Consistent Forward Progress

The first premise of the Turtle Strategy is that you must always be making deliberate forward progress.  The nice thing about being a turtle is that while you might not be strapped to a jet pack, you get to see the lay of the land. You notice details.  You see the road in front of you instead of the horizon you’re chasing.

Your goal is to keep moving down that road.  Take consistent action on a daily basis to make your dreams a reality.

2.  Stay Focused on the Destination

The entire concept of the Turtle Strategy is derived from a story in Aesop’s fables where a tortoise and a hare have a race.  The tortoise wins because he never budges from his path.  Time and tradition have turned our tortoise into a turtle, but the lesson remains: if you want to achieve your goal, you need to stay focused on your destination.  Do not deviate.

The hare decided there was time for distractions because he was so far ahead of the tortoise.  Turns out, those distractions cost him the race.

While blogging and business are often exploratory, keep your eye on your destination so you always know the Point B that you’re aiming for.

3. Eat Leafy Greens

I might be misinterpreting this analogy, but you can never overstate the importance of a balanced and healthy diet while pursuing your goals.  Balancing work, life, relationships and business is a challenge that everyone who enters business runs into eventually.  If you’d like to have a shot at striking a healthy balance, it is important that you invest in your own health as well.

You can’t work sixteen to eighteen hours a day (considering everything you do in all aspects of your life) and not take care of yourself.  If you try to eat poorly, skimp on sleep and do not exercise, then you’re going to hit a metaphorical wall.

And as you might know, turtles aren’t very good at climbing, so you would have to go around it.  Which takes time (aka, you need to recoup).

Perhaps the lesson of this principle is that you must take care of yourself in order to love your customers.  If you do not, your efforts will flounder and your inspiration will wane.

Keep at it.

If you follow the famous Turtle Strategy, you’re bound for greatness.

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