This time of year, as winter seems to drone on indefinitely, it’s easy to get in a rut. We go to work each morning. Do our thing. Drive home. Have dinner. Watch TV. Go to bed. Then get up the next day and do it all over again. Rinse and repeat.
We literally and figuratively have to push ourselves “out of the ditch.” (Minnesota broke all previous records for snowfall in the month of February, and we are on tap to break into the Top 5 Snowiest Months of all time – or at least out of the 840 months since records have been kept.) In other words, here in the heartland, cabin fever and rut-dwelling is real.
As my husband and I have a blended family, two of my four children didn’t grow up with me. In visiting our oldest daughter earlier in the month, I discovered that many of my dinner recipes are “so standard.” She clearly had a different set of “her standards.” Her rut wasn’t mine. For example, she made turkey burgers with spinach, and enchiladas with white beans. Growing up in Minnesota farm country, my culinary world-view was on Minnesota BEEF -- always reaching for red meat rather than evaluating more healthful options.
Perhaps with the advent of spring, we can all take this time to evaluate options other than the status quo. On a personal level, that may mean reevaluating the food we eat. Or making more productive use of our leisure time.
Professionally, I call on service providers and contractors who have not used our products, to consider alternatives to their “status quo.”
You might just find out that different is better, and the view outside of the rut is even brighter.
By Cheri Beranek
A founding member of Clearfield, Inc., Cheri Beranek is considered a communications visionary. Her extensive leadership experience and unique management style combined deliver outstanding corporate performance.
Under her direction, Clearfield has recorded 10 consecutive years of profitability and posted historic gains in both the market capitalization and shareholder equity. Today, Clearfield is a multinational business with more than 250 employees and over 700 customers.