Traditional May No Longer Be Conventional

"Let tradition be your guide, but not your jailer."
- W. Somerset Maugham

When someone like me is "blogging for balance," quotes like the one above are perfect queues to help make the point. Some may view statements like this as contradictory, but the point is really to not be too extreme unless you want an extreme outcome. Tradition is a great way to preserve memories and build upon a foundation, however what once was relevant in the past may no longer be relevant today. Trying to stick to a tradition that no longer works may keep you from progressing and ultimately be your jailer. On the flip side, if you completely abandon tradition and constantly pursue something new or something better, you may find yourself running in circles.

"Traditional business" can mean many different things. In my view, it means applying basic business principals to achieve the desired results. This would include such things as having an efficient operation, applying marketing and maintaining a brand, as well as having a basic sales model that will lead to more revenue. Without having each of those standard business practices, your company won't reach its full potential. The details of how to accomplish each of those will vary from business to business, and will change as time goes on. For instance, advertising in the standard printed yellow pages was the way to go for any business that wanted to be found more than five years ago, but today paints a much different picture as technology has changed how consumers find businesses. Tradition will dictate that you still should advertise, but how and where you advertise will need to evolve with the rest of the world.

Tradition in our personal lives is typically more often linked to holiday and family values. I immediately recall memories of decorating Christmas trees and having birthday parties every year that used to always include Chuck E. Cheese. It's not as critical that these traditions evolve as time goes on because how you celebrate your holidays isn't a competition of survival of the fittest. However, there may be other aspects of your life that tradition dictates your every move and you may not even realize it. How you budget or don't budget your money, how you interact others, or even whether or not you're willing to take risks to achieve great things - these may all be things that were handed down to you growing up that still stick with you today. It may be time to take a look at some of these and decide if it's a tradition that is guiding you or jailing you.

Tradition can be a wonderful thing to help guide you through the adventures of life. Just be sure that it doesn't become something that holds you back from achieving what you want.