My karate coach once said to me:
‘sometimes you have to add icing to the cake’
I looked at him gone out but as he explained and as time has gone by I have grown to appreciate icing more and more.
So this is how he explained it. Icing is added when the cake is ready. You put all the hard work, effort, blood, sweat and tears (we are speaking metaphorically here in case you were wondering what god awful cake I was making in my spare time) into making the perfect cake. You get the temperature just right so it rises – nice and firm on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. The shape is flawless and you have left it the right amount of time to cool.
If this were a business then you have reached out to every potential client you can, spent your marketing budget, turned over every commission/contract/sale in record time and delivered top service whilst maintaining top quality on a 24/7, working yourself into the ground, schedule.
The icing is put on when it is time to admire the cake and appreciate all of your hard work. The icing is an awards ceremony, an office party or a day off work! Even half a day off work so that you can have a lie in and roll up to work when you are ready for a change rather than when you have to. It doesn’t really matter what you do because the trick is to do something just for you.
When you are training everyday – head down and rowing against an invisible opponent. Pushing an extra 10kg because it is essential for some reason. Hitting the punch bags harder and faster and sparring with better and better opponents because you have to keep losing to realise where your weaknesses are. My icing was sparring with easier opponents so I could see how far I had come and enjoy a mini victory. Even though those fights would not win me a tournament they made me feel good about myself, gave my confidence, a boost, and just for a moment I could switch my mind off and just enjoy the talent my body had absorbed and watch my automatic fighter step in.
For Belinda Darley this weekend she got to see her business shine in its newly promoted genre of dance. She has grown her clientele over the last six months and brought them all together for a day of tap workshops with The Pulse Collective. The footfall amounted to over 100 happy tappers taking part in Body Percussion, Beginner’s Tap, and Advanced Tap workshops. The day ended with a tap jam where Kane, Ryan and Eilidh showed off their skills and wowed their audience.
It was one of those days that was the accumulation of years of hard work, stress and effort. You could call it a blowout, a blast, a one in a million event that you have to grasp with both hands so for one moment you can say ‘hell yes – this has all been worth it’. Belinda embraced her moment and probably shattered herself out for the rest of the week in doing so but that is what they are all about.
Without the icing the cake is bland, incomplete and just hasn’t fulfilled its full potential. Business is a hard slog so make sure you make time for some icing moments. Take a look at what you have achieved and celebrate it. Belinda has a Facebook page full of thank you’s for organising the day and bringing something big and exciting to Gainsborough. The memories and experience of Sunday will keep on giving and provide the momentum to keep The Studio going for years to come. Icing days are not an over exuberance they are essential moral boosting, grin rendering occasions. You have permission to go out there and pat yourself on the back so go and do it!
If you fancy your own day of tap workshops with Kane D.Ricca leading at the helm then email workshops@thepulsecollective.co.uk . For more information on them go to www.thepulsecollective.co.uk – #RhythmArmy.
an accountant's perspective 