Are You Your Biggest Obstacle to Progress?
My biggest weakness is waiting for everything to align before starting a project. But sometimes, just starting is the best way to approach it.

The City of Norfolk will soon have a heavy-duty motor pool, one unit at a time. Photo courtesy of Facundo Tassara
What’s your biggest weakness? There are so many ways to answer that question effectively, dodging it to make it seem like that weakness is actually a strength. But this blog is not geared towards interview preparation, but more so towards leadership. So again, what’s your biggest weakness?
In a recent conversation, that question came up, and I was able to give an answer that directly related to fleet. Months ago, I was reading through the November 2015 edition of Entrepreneur magazine and on the very last page was a great article titled, “Just Start.” The article described how often, we don’t start because we are always waiting on something — waiting for permission, waiting for a better time, waiting to start your diet, just waiting. As I read that article, it didn’t take too long before I heard the voice in my head say: “Guilty!”
For a while now, we have been talking about creating a heavy-duty motor pool. The idea was that we were going to gather up seven to 10 heavy pieces of equipment and then go live. Of course the thought of the motor pool was just that — a thought — while we waited for equipment to fill the vacant pool slots. In this case, no one stood in my way other than myself.
Within the next couple of months, we will be replacing a backhoe that is not properly utilized and when the replacement comes in, we are launching our heavy-duty motor pool with just one piece. A simple start, but we are starting. It may not seem like a heavy-duty motor pool is a big deal, but reflecting and identifying your weakness is. What’s your weakness? Is it dealing with politicians? Is it speaking in front of people? Is it avoiding confrontation? Whatever it is, step out of your own way, and focus on your weaknesses, even if it’s just one at a time.
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