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As you all know, my wife thinks I am an imbecile. Except over the last few weeks, she also thinks I should now nominate myself for the madman of the year award.

Come to think of it, there may be some merits to her thinking.

That’s because I have decided, either in my madness or wisdom, despite my medical condition, to run the London Marathon in April 2024. It will be exactly 20 years since I last ran a marathon.

How did this come about? Well, when I was in my late teens, the concept of ‘what’s the next step’ was taught to me.

It was further enhanced in the film Da Vinci Code when Sophie explains that her grandfather was constantly asking her to think about ‘the next step’.

So, what is the concept of the next step?

Well, let me give you an example.

When I was 19, my brother asked me to help him out in his accounting practice during the summer university break. Within weeks, I was doing work which qualified graduates couldn’t do.

So, you could say I was feeling a bit smug. It was all very tremendous. Except that is a dangerous place to be, and I needed to be brought down a level.

And that is what my brother did. Because after I gave him a masterpiece of a set of working papers, he basically threw it back at me and said it was not enough. In basic terms, he said, yep, you did what you were told, but you must always ask what comes next.  In other words, what is the next step? What comes after you have just completed what you were supposed to do?

At the time, I did not have a clue what he was talking about. In my mind, I was way ahead of everyone else, working for pennies (not sure if I even got that) and was brilliant. He did not appreciate me. He was just being a bastard.

Or was he? Because what he taught me all those years ago is like a fibre of my being today. Because I am always asking, ‘What’s the next step?’ whether it is for my business, my personal life or for my client’s business.

And that is what you should be doing, too.

Businesses and people in their personal lives fail not because they have a bad business or because they are doing something wrong. It is because they do not constantly ask what the next step is.

And sometimes asking and doing the next step is scary. Sometimes costly. Sometimes, you may think it impossible too.

But many years ago, a client also taught me something else too. If you don’t want to do something, you will come up with a thousand excuses. But if you really want to do something, you only need one excuse. And that one excuse will work out a way to get there.

Twenty years ago, an off-the-cuff comment after I ran those 42 km was that I would do it all again in 20 years’ time. But two years ago, after that health scare, that seemed impossible. Except if you want it enough, you only need one excuse.

But asking and moving forward what the next step should be is not something that can be done by yourself.  In my case, it required 2 cardiologists, a dedicated GP, a full medical that lasted a couple of days and a personal trainer. Without them, my next step simply would not have happened.

If you want your business to move to the next step or the next level, you first need to understand that a DIY approach is not going to cut it. You will need help in the same way that I do.

This article is not about me, although I will appreciate it if it reads that way.  This is what I will urge you all to do. Constantly ask and keep asking the same question, whether it is about your business or your personal life.  That question is, what’s the next step? And make sure you have some brilliant people around you to make sure you get there.

But it was not just the off-the-cuff comment. As many of you know, I believe in giving back. And that means I am raising money for the Royal Society for Blind Children in the UK and also Bowel Cancer Australia. My father was blind, and a friend of mine died from Bowel Cancer recently. It would mean a lot to me if I could raise a crapload for these charities.

If you believe I have given you value over the years or simply want to do some good, please donate.

For Royal Society for Blind Children the link is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hitesh-mohanlal.

For Bowel Cancer Australia the link is:

https://event.bowelcanceraustralia.org/page/Hitesh-69996277

Running an efficient business and working out what the next step for you is step 3 & step 6 of our 9 steps to working less, earning more and creating wealth. If you would like to know more contact Hitesh at hitesh@wowadvisors.com.au or Ros at ros@wowadvisors.com.au or call 0731619548