The Miracle Minute
A Certain Amount of Mess
Francis Ford Coppola, American cinematographer and director, said, "I bring to my life a certain amount of mess."
Who doesn't? Even when we think we're totally upbeat and positive, thoughts and feelings of a negative nature creep in.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and philosopher, said, "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
Recently the local media made a big deal out of unemployment reaching 6.3%. Most people assume that is a bad thing because of the spin it is given, but is it really? Nothing is either good or bad until compared with something else. Is 6.3% unemployment bad when compared with other nations? We've got 93.7% of our people working.
Right now our nation is going through tremendous change. Change is scary. However, there is a difference between being concerned and being scared. Scared people tend to panic, run for cover, and expect others to make things better, whereas concerned people open their minds, look closely at what they are doing, and ask, "What can we do to make things better?"
In every extended economic downturn many firms go under. Yet, there are always a select few who rise up and become more successful than they were before. How can this be?
Rather than fight with change or wait for others to fix things, the select few look in the mirror and begin making changes within. They find ways to get more done in less time. They find ways to better serve their customers. They find ways to better serve the needs of their employees, their suppliers, and everyone else they deal with.
What separates the winners from the losers in an economic down turn is the winner's willingness to grow.
Dick Warn
Copyright 2009 Richard S. Warn & Associates
No comments:
Post a Comment