The attitude taken by most children to ‘not sweat the small stuff’, may be a great coping mechanism for adults as well writes Amanda Peros.
While watching my son play in the park, I found myself wondering about the machinations (at age 3) of his thought process. Playing with a stick and poking ants is an activity that seems to give him nothing but endless joy; he is content and at ease with his world.
I can’t help but wonder, then, what he has made of all that has happened in his life in the past 12 months and how he has coped so well. In the past year he has endured his mother (me) getting sick with Cervical Cancer, his parents separating, moving away from his father and finding the dynamic of living with a single mother. He has also started pre-school and is spending four full days a week away from home.
Right now the world needs a hero…proactive personal branding will set you apart as a recognisable winner in a pool of sinking fear mongers.
Everywhere you look there's a new reason to be terrified into inertia. Every news day brings more horror, fear, uncertainty, panic and more warnings to hang on to your job, business and hard earned dollars. Thousands of ordinary Australians have lost their livelihoods; hundreds are declaring bankruptcy and thousands more have been forced to sell their homes. And it seems that where there was once trust and ease of business, there is now suspicion and delay.
I admit it. I'm frustrated. I'm tired of getting emails from people who write, "I can't do what you did because __________________." Just fill in the blank with whatever excuse you can think of.
People say they can't write as many books as I have because they don't have the time, or they're too old, too young, too married, or too single.
People say they can't make their book a bestseller like I did because their book is different, or they're different, or the timing is different.
Charles Darwin, the father of evolution theory, born 200 years ago this year, said: It's not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most adaptive to change. (I can hear the readers now: "Change! Um-aaaah! He said the C-Word.")
Change is hard on all of us. I'm a pharmacist turned copywriter, turned stand up comic, turned wine writer, turned Author and Speaker and I still find change incredibly challenging. If you ever see anyone stand up and brag: "I love change. Change scares me not! I am The Change Master." Point at them, giggle and say "Liar liar, you're nervous, skidmarked- pants are on fire."
When I was teaching our Breakthrough to Success at CIDA University in Johannesburg, South Africa, where underprivileged youth get a free education, several students shared stories of incredible hardship and poverty.
I recall one young woman describing what she had to endure to support her whole family at the age of 13 in the remote village where she grew up. Instead of feeling sorry for herself though, she said, "I realised that if I wanted my future to be different, I had to come with the change."
Page 1 of 20
