Fear lies clearly in the path of all roads to success. In order to succeed at anything in life one must first get past the fear associated with the task. Think back to the days when you were learning to throw and catch a baseball. Throwing was no real problem was it? No fear there. Now think about learning to catch the ball. Remember having to get over the fear of being hit by the ball? Remember the coach telling you to keep you body in front of the ball and never let the ball get by you even if it hits you and not the glove? Most of us have been hit by enough baseballs to know that it’s an irrational fear as it relates to succeeding as a baseball player at any skill level.
Measuring color with passion, persistence and pride as discussed in #60 is all about getting over your fear of the results. The first time someone brought up color measurement you probably thought “Oh no, what if the results are bad? What will we do then?” Once you started measuring, however, you realized that the numbers helped you solve many more problems than the numbers alone uncovered. (Look back at #60 and read about the air exchanger in the web pressroom.)
If you do not measure color you cannot control color. If you cannot control color you cannot increase productivity and profitability in every phase of your printing business. Assume for a moment that the above statement is true. So, by fearing color measurement, you really fear increased productivity and profitability! Does that even begin to make sense? No, fear of color measurement is as irrational as the fear of getting hit by a baseball while playing the game. I know you want to be a printer who operates in the profit leader category of the PIA/GATF ratios, so get over your fears of color measurement and start measuring color today.