Business lessons from the Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer has been used for decades by Alcoholics Anonymous. But even if you’ve never suffered from addiction or witnessed a loved one suffer from it, it’s highly likely you’ve heard of it. But have you thought of it in terms of the business world?

In case you’re not familiar, here it is:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

If there’s any lesson the world has learned in the past couple of years, there are things that we cannot change. In fact, most business owners realized that lesson a long time ago.

Only about half of businesses with employees survive past five years. I suspect those that survive longer than five years learn the second lesson from the serenity prayer: some things can be changed, and they need to know the difference.

We’ve all spun our wheels trying to change something that was out of our control. The quicker we can realize it and move on to things within our control, the better.

We have several examples of this concept in this month’s issue. Despite construction starting in 2019, Francis Tuttle recently opened their new facility in Edmond ahead of schedule. The Edmond Chamber realized the fundraising efforts they had done for years needed updating and started exploring new events in 2017 and as recently as September of this year. Despite typical commercial leases being at least a year, Spirit Halloween manages to get a least each year for just three months, even with specific criteria.

And these stories are just the tip of the iceberg here in Edmond. Many of our own have realized they don’t have to accept the status quo but instead demonstrate the courage to change what they can.

What do you need the courage to change in your own business? What are you spinning your wheels trying to change that you need to accept?