I consume a lot of stuff on business. Books, audiobooks online groups, TV shows and documentaries, even films. I’m a bit of a junkie for it.

Over the past few years I’ve consumed thousands of hours of content, ranging from “here’s how X person got to be a billionaire” to “envision your business dreams by burning sage when it’s a full moon.” (You can guess that there’s lots of advice I don’t take…).

But dozens of TV shows, hundreds of books, and thousands of social media posts later, there’s one piece of advice that’s stuck out to me more than anything else.

And it’s very simple, but very useful.

“What matters today almost never matters six weeks from now.”

In my experience, business is an ongoing emotional rollercoaster – sometimes you can go from a high to a low (or vice versa) in just seconds. When you work with people as closely as we do, a lovely email or tweet can lift your week, or one rude person can ruin it.

I’m a closet empath as it is, and I often find myself absorbing other people’s energy or not having an outlet to decompress (maybe I need to take up boxing?!). I love to have a good moan as much as the next person, but it just keeps the negativity going. And it’s difficult to really have someone to talk to who understands, other than Joe, and I don’t really want to bounce negative energy between the two of us. Added too that, things can change so fast that by the time someone messages me back, I feel like I’ve lived another five days and had twenty five other emotions in that time, even though less than an hour may have passed…!

But I found this advice really helpful, because sometimes a moment feels like your whole world and you are just experiencing that and nothing else. Six weeks isn’t forever. It’s an end in sight. It’s a reminder that I can get through this week, or today, or this moment. It’s more specific than “this too shall pass” because there’s a timeframe attached. It feels less wishy washy and dramatic.

Positive thinking isn’t something that comes naturally to me – looking for holes and problems and improving processes has played a huge role in my past working lives and also in our efficiency now, including fixing things rapidly or circumventing them in the first place. Constant improvement and looking at how to be better is the reason why people say things like, “I can see why you’re so highly recommended!” about our migration page.

It’s the small things that lead to the big things. Sometimes it’s about getting through the moment so you can make those things happen.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard? Let me know in the comments!