4 Nature-Inspired Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Embrace

Contributed to EO by Patrick Sipp, guest contributor and the owner of Flying Pig Adventures.

Are you stuck in a rut, struggling to find new ways to motivate your work team? Are you brainstorming a marketing strategy or quarterly plan and feeling fresh out of new ideas? If so, it may be time to take a step outside.

When people think about adventures in the great outdoors, they probably do not associate those activities with the daily grind of the corporate office. Many people don’t realize, however, that nature can teach the most essential life lessons, especially when it comes to business. That’s right—from an overnight white water rafting trip to a days-long hike up a steep mountain, nature is an underrated mentor when it comes to business.

Unlock Fresh Ideas in the Fresh Air

Humans were not meant to sit inside at desks for hours upon hours, all day every day, and stare into screens and digital devices. You may recall the phrase, “Sitting is the new smoking,” which refers to the growing epidemic of sedentary lifestyles that are dangerous to your health. The human body was made to move, and through movement we sometimes gain our very best insights and creative ideas.

If you are a business owner or leader who is looking for new ways to collaborate and innovate with your team, consider taking a trip to the Rocky Mountains or Yellowstone National Park. When you get outside as a team and embark on a group adventure, the fresh air may not only help you out of your creative rut, but it can also provide inspiration for better collaboration and communication.

4 Lessons Nature Can Teach You About Business

From my experience as the owner of Flying Pig Adventures, where we help clients get back outdoors—where the spray of the river, the warmth of the sunshine, and the immensity of the world around are clear and present—here are four lessons Mother Nature can teach you about business:

1. Learn how to adapt quickly.

Many industries are in the midst of major shakeups right now. And even if your company is not currently impacted by outside forces, most entrepreneurs are familiar with the idea that if your business is not growing, it’s dying. Change is the only constant. Business professionals, especially entrepreneurs and leaders, need to know how to adapt to change as quickly as possible in order to stay on top of evolving needs and trends. Change can be hard, but learning to embrace change is a stepping stone to ongoing growth and success. Mother Nature is a great instructor on the necessity of change. By its very essence, nature teaches all who enjoy it how to respond to unforeseen circumstances. For example, if a tree has fallen and obstructed the trail you are following, you must either climb over the tree or find another route. Or, if it starts to rain, you may need to explore creative ways to seek shelter. Business, like nature, can be chaotic, so it is important to be flexible and stay humble. Exercising your adaptability muscle can be a surprisingly fun and exciting adventure!

2. Put “waste not, want not” into action.

If you went camping or hiking with a limited food supply, you would probably take great care not to waste any food or materials. Like expert outdoorsmen, great business leaders avoid wasting resources at all costs. Leaders will work long and hard to craft a well-thought-out plan on how to best utilize their resources for maximum benefit to achieve their goals. The also know how to work within a budget, and if there is a surplus, they allocate those resources to another need or project. They can assess current resources and make them last, which is an especially important skill in shaky economic times.

3. Gain a new perspective.

Have you ever hiked to the very top of a tall mountain and looked at the world below you? If so, that is a textbook example of how to gain a new perspective. When you look at a forest while you’re walking through it, it looks totally different than when you climb to a height where you can enjoy an overview. Enjoying that type of activity in nature can help you see things differently when you are stuck on a problem at work that seems challenging or impossible to solve. Looking at something through a new lens might cause you to notice new details, appreciate how various elements work together, or see how something you thought was a standalone element is actually part of a larger whole. If you are facing some type of professional obstacle, perhaps it is time to look at the problem from a different angle to find the right solution, or at least to generate new ideas that could lead to your ideal outcome.

4. Appreciate small details.

When you take a sailing trip or venture out to see a waterfall, you may notice a stunning sunset or a rainbow where the light glistens in the cascading water. These seemingly simple things can enhance your time outdoors and cause you to pause in gratitude. Nature has a way of making you feel gratitude for being a part of the ecosystem where beauty is on display in both small and all-encompassing ways. In business, it is easy to get so busy that you forget to say “thank you” for the smallest things. Taking the time to notice the simple details in nature can encourage you to pause at work and recognize the smaller tasks and projects your employees or colleagues do exceedingly well that make a huge difference professionally. Little things – like thanking your team on a regular basis – can truly mean a lot.

While it may seem unusual to draw parallels between your typical workday and an excursion outdoors, Mother Nature is filled with many valuable lessons and is always a great teacher. It doesn’t matter if you spend a few hours or a few days outdoors— you will almost certainly see or learn something new.

All you need to do is take a step outside, look around, and listen.