What’s Your Handstand – The Value of Aiming for Stretch Goals

Posted on: January 25th, 2018

handstand stretch goals Handstands are one of the most challenging exercises, involving strength, balance and focus. It can take years for a yoga practitioner to develop a handstand practice. One’s core must be strengthened.

Hand placement and breathing must be mastered. A whole series of extension and leg movements must be learned. The pay off for many hours of this work is at best 10 seconds of upside down bliss in the handstand position.

For many, the thought of doing this is just too much, an unattainable moonshot of a stretch goal, especially for a middle-aged person. Yet the handstand journey is, a valuable discipline that will result in huge improvement in fitness whether the goal is reached.

Stretch goals are never easy, yet there is always intrinsic value to pursuing as they always elevate your game in ways the status quo can never. Smart companies subscribe to the same philosophy regarding stretch goals.

Whether developing a new product, penetrating new markets or acquiring, companies that take on transformational projects tend to develop a higher level of business performance within the enterprise.

When employees are challenged in entrepreneurial ways to step outside their comfort zones, they see things differently. The old routine changes to incorporate new ways of thinking and new approaches to day to day functions.

Through focusing on a new, big ideas, employees become outwardly as opposed to inwardly focused and see their value through the prism of the new growth step. This helps them become more creative about new ways of doing things.

It also helps them develop more focus on being part of the solution to the challenging project. As they get deeper into the project, they’re likely to become more invested in their current roles and find greater opportunity for teamwork.

This often leads to greater productivity throughout. Whether the big stretch goal is ever reached, or the big idea ever comes to fruition, the end result is same.

The journey itself has been a rich learning and productivity boosting experience for the company. Companies that use the handstand approach to forming stretch goals have that extra performance edge that puts them ahead of the pack.

In the acquisition financing arena, capital availability is destiny as companies require reliable access to capital to grow over the long term. Unforeseen capital needs usually arise when acquirers least expect it. This can cause some concern for the acquisition financing provider, especially when covenants tighten up and that working capital availability is utilized faster than expected.

Mezzanine debt borrowing is usually a straightforward activity that many companies use for funding of transitional growth. Mezzanine debt lenders are highly transparent about their due diligence approach and their post-closing loan management making it easy for companies to engage with.

Elections have consequences and positive ones at that for the acquisition financing middle market. While much media attention is paid to the direction of the yield curve and the Fed’s likely rate cuts, scant attention is paid to the more important drivers of the acquisition financing market – business psychology and regulatory climate.