Sitting in our basement family room is a commercial grade recumbent bike. While it would be a large and expensive laundry drying rack for some people, it has gotten quite a bit of use from our family over the years we have had it. While summer use is fairly limited, winter use is heavier for the quick workouts when no one wants to make the journey to the Y or I don’t want to set up the trainer on my road bike.
We all knew the day was coming when it would stop working, and it did. I tried several things but no avail. I had an expert look at it who was short of a clear diagnosis but was leaning towards an alternator that was not putting out the voltage that was intended. But he also noticed that a small compartment to hold a 9 volt battery was empty – and it has always been empty. I found a 9 volt battery and we snapped it into place. And the bike began to work again to the delight of at least a couple people in the house.
Sometimes it’s not a big change that is needed to make something work. It might be a slight tweak to the current environment to make something function. It might be a small adjustment in the timing or a better clarification of an expectation. It might be adding just a little more focus to an effort – or just a little more energy.
What is your 9 volt battery that will translate into a more successful effort, product, service, or achievement to close out the year and position you for success in 2013? Chances are it might be something sitting right there in front of you and you might just miss it looking for the big thing to fix it.
