This past weekend, was the annual father/son camping weekend with 3 other dads. We have been doing this for 20 years (before we had wives and children). This past weekend, we hit really some bad weather our first night in the tent. I am no stranger to sleeping through thunderstorms in a tent. But, about 1:30 am, I woke up and saw that one of the poles had collapsed in on the tent. I quickly realized that unless I got the tent set up properly again, we would all be wet in about 5 minutes…not quite the fun I had pictured with my sons.
What I like about camping, is that there are many times that it requires your complete focus. This was one of them. I was in a battle with the rain to keep our little tent space in the world dry. I went to straighten the collapsed pole. Immediately, another pole collapsed. We were in trouble. I woke my older son up and had him hold up one side of the tent while I went outside. I am standing in the middle of the night in the pouring rain not really knowing what I would do next but knowing I had to do something, anything. I could not let the current situation stand. I remembered the rope I had in my camping box which I had carried for years. With a knife and a few "Rube Goldberg" ideas, I anchored both poles (one to a tree, the other to the "trunk of my car"- don’t ask). The tent stood for the rest of the weekend and we stayed dry. A small victory against the elements.
Many times in business, I have felt that my tent was collapsing around me and I need to battle just to keep the business "dry" (afloat, in business, have cash, etc). When you are able to, even if it is just "through the night", victory can feel plenty good.
