I had an interesting conversation with a client recently that reminded me of the movie “The Perfect Storm” starring George Clooney. Have you watched that movie?

It’s about a struggling fishing boat captain played by George Clooney. In the movie, George is desperately trying to stay in business after a string of bad luck and not being able to find great fishing spots. Unfortunately, he is so intent on finding fish at any cost, he ignores his better judgment and years of experience to steer his ship right in the middle of a massive storm.

As I was listening to my client describe his current situation, it brought to mind parallels with the movie. My client thought he was under extreme pressure to make a decision to change the nature of his business and because he didn’t think things through clearly, he had just steered his once prosperous business into the perfect storm. Rather than take the time and make the effort necessary to carefully think through his many options, my client was so intent on pushing his business forward that he took some extremely large risks — the kind of risks that he would normally steer clear of. What’s even more interesting is that he chose to ignore many critical indicators in his business that would have confirmed that this was indeed not the time for such a risky move.

In the movie, George Clooney as the fishing boat captain had all of the instruments necessary to see the weather patterns and to predict the course of the storm but he chose to ignore everything out of desperation to catch some fish. Unfortunately, this decision cost him and his crew their lives as their small boat and all of their skills on the sea were no match for the storm.

Luckily, my client is not facing such a perilous end. However, his decision will cost him a great deal of money, and it will force him to lay off some extremely talented people. But with some clear thinking and strategic planning, the business will prosper again. Storms don’t last forever and the sun will indeed shine again.

Just keep in mind that the best course to take is the one where you maneuver your ship around the storms of life. True, you can’t avoid all storms or adversity but you can avoid more than you might imagine with proper planning. Sometimes, the only thing you need to do is take a deep breathe and ask yourself if the course you are on is going where you really want to go. Are you steering yourself into any storms that you could avoid? And if you are thinking seriously about heading into a storm, have you asked yourself if it’s really worth the risk? There are an abundance of fish throughout the ocean so why not find a calm, sunny spot and then cast your line?