What I learned About Running a Business By Throwing Darts

I recently started to learn how to throw darts. Pretty much everyone can throw darts – but not everyone can hit what they are aiming at (me included) so I decided I’d go online and see if there were lessons about the proper way to throw darts: Of course there were. And it really came down to three simple (but not easy to execute) steps.

1. Alignment
2. Aiming
3. Motion

The first thing you have to do is make sure you are positioned the right way (alignment) so that aiming and motion are not impeded. Once you have that right, you look at what you want to hit – focus on that very specific target. Lastly, you have to throw it the right way. And the throwing motion has to work in concert with the alignment and targeting.

Think how many times your business or a project you are working on misses out on one or more of these items.

We’ve all heard employees complain that they aren’t given the right tools or support (alignment) to complete the task. Or how often people say they aren’t sure about what the goal is, or how the company’s processes don’t support the stated goals.

In addition to running my own business I teach management courses. I’ll often get the question that asks whether management is really just something innate. Next time I get that questions, I just might use my darts analogy – everyone thinks they can do it, but without learning how, you’ll mostly miss the target.