Every year, my family and I rent a cottage in Muskoka, a beautiful cottage area two hours north of Toronto. As I write this, I am sitting on the dock looking over a calm lake and listening to the wildlife chirp and sing. What a beautiful way to spend a week. Not only does it allow me to spend quality time withe the family, but it also provides an opportunity to take a step back from city life and reflect on where I am and where I want to be. It provides me with some clarity of direction and purpose. This week, I have become very clear on who I want to be and the kind of father I want to be to my children, the kind of husband I want to be to my wife, the kind of work I would like to do with my customers and future customers and the type of person I want to be to others. Not a bad outcome for a week's vacation. How do you get your clarity?

As I sit by the window, overlooking the peaceful Muskoka lake where we are vacationing, it makes me think how important it is to try different things once in a while and get ourselves out of our comfort zone. You do not need to make radical changes, but trying new things keeps you interested and excited. This is the same for businesses. A colleague of mine was having trouble attracting new clients so he decided to do something radically different, which ended up working well for him. When you are successful, figure out what it is that is making you successful and continue to do it, when you stop being successful, figure out what has changed and change with it, if you have never been successful try something completetly different because what you have been doing is obviously not working.

We all have a choice on how we want to grow as people and as business leaders, so take any opportunity you can to try new things and new approaches.