This may not be a particularly popular viewpoint or very trendy, but I have a good feeling about 2012. I think it is going to be an exceptional year.
I realize the prevailing thought patterns like to believe otherwise. Our culture seems to prefer to obsess over all that is not right with the world. The media is convinced we respond better to bad news than good. and so inundate us with headlines designed to make us tune in, turn on, and click through by boasting how bad things are and how much worse they will get. They feed on our obsessions, sometimes forcing us to pay attention to what we don't want to. We have 24/7 News that repeats the same handful of sad stories while ignoring the multitudes of good that never get reported. And because we do watch and listen and read on-line and off-line what they serve up, we get more of it.
I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to wanting to know the details behind that doomsday promotional tease. But I find more and more, especially when I follow the story through to the end, it has little substance. Or it gives me no new news or insight. It lacks adequate factual research. Plus it makes me feel bad. And rather helpless.
And I am not helpless, nor are any of us. I have a good feeling about 2012 because I know I can make a difference, I can create my own change in my little corner of the world. I can have a positive effect on the direction things are going. It doesn't have to be launching a new campaign to end world hunger or writing another book, although it can be. It can also be as simple as behavioral changes.
Like making an effort to say please and thank-you more often. Telling someone you love them on a day that isn't Valentine's Day. Smiling at a stranger. Saying I'm sorry when you bump me not once, not twice but three times in an aisle at Whole Foods. Not supporting a product or media outlet whose approach you find offensive. Supporting the ones whose direction you like. Voting. Look for the good in the world. Yes, there is good to be found. Believing you can change the world.
I'm immersed in the Steve Jobs biography at the moment. One of the things Walter Isaacson constantly refer to is what was termed Jobs "reality distortion field." When Steve was looking through that lens people didn't know what to do. They didn't have the ability to see as he did. They saw what they thought was reality which was usually synonymous with "that's impossible". But Jobs saw what he would make his reality or what I like to call the "why not?" option.
So that is how I am going to approach this year. At times you may think I am living in my own "reality distortion field." And I may be. But the only way to change what is, is by seeing what can be and then taking those steps to make the "distortion" real.
Change in your own world will have an effect on the larger world. As long as you believe.
What are you feeling about 2012?
What changes do you want to make?
Ready to make some big changes? Stay tuned for details on what I have up my sleeve to help coach you to change in 2012. And if you are not already signed up to receive my newsletter or blog, do so now!
Showing posts with label Steve Jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Jobs. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Friday, October 7, 2011
Walking The Walk
I keep thinking there is something I want to write about Steve Jobs and then I look around and I see the airwaves, the papers, the Internet, flooded with conversation and commentary and I wonder what I could possibly say that hasn't been said already, what I could add that would give a fresh perspective.
And so until now I haven't. I've let everyone else speak. But this morning I remembered why I write. It is not necessarily the story itself but it is how it is told. And it is our own unique voices that make all the difference.
Steve Jobs' voice was unique. His story engages us all. He did what so many of us want to do but are afraid to. He followed his heart and his intuition. He went against conventional thought. He let his passion direct his path, not where he thought there might be money. He demonstrated what can happen when you do that. He literally changed the world and from that the bonus was a financially abundant life. But Steve told the world he never did it for the money. That is so contradictory to the thought process that dominates today's corporate culture. And yet it worked, and brilliantly!
You never hear people complaining about working for Apple. In fact, go into any Apple store and people are happily waiting to help you. That passion that Steve Jobs had for the product miraculously makes it all the way to the person sitting at the Genius Bar. Encouraging creativity, thinking out of the box, establishing an environment that people want to come work in, this is not the way of most business environments today. Yet Steve Jobs proved it can work and be profitable at the same time. That's a concept that is as innovative as the iPhone was in 2007.
I commented on Facebook the other day that the world has lost a bright light in Steve Jobs. I'll now add that because of the way he chose to live his life, that light will shine on into eternity. He changed the way we use technology. He made it fun and colorful and easy. He encouraged us all to follow our heart and our intuition. And he did more than talk the talk. He walked the walk. The only gift he was not blessed with was the length of time in which to do that.
I don't know if my thoughts add any freshness or insight to what has already been said, but it doesn't matter. I am listening to Steve Jobs today. I am not waiting for someone else to say it for me or assuming someone else will say it as well. If Steve had waited who knows what our world would like.
And so until now I haven't. I've let everyone else speak. But this morning I remembered why I write. It is not necessarily the story itself but it is how it is told. And it is our own unique voices that make all the difference.
Steve Jobs' voice was unique. His story engages us all. He did what so many of us want to do but are afraid to. He followed his heart and his intuition. He went against conventional thought. He let his passion direct his path, not where he thought there might be money. He demonstrated what can happen when you do that. He literally changed the world and from that the bonus was a financially abundant life. But Steve told the world he never did it for the money. That is so contradictory to the thought process that dominates today's corporate culture. And yet it worked, and brilliantly!
You never hear people complaining about working for Apple. In fact, go into any Apple store and people are happily waiting to help you. That passion that Steve Jobs had for the product miraculously makes it all the way to the person sitting at the Genius Bar. Encouraging creativity, thinking out of the box, establishing an environment that people want to come work in, this is not the way of most business environments today. Yet Steve Jobs proved it can work and be profitable at the same time. That's a concept that is as innovative as the iPhone was in 2007.
I commented on Facebook the other day that the world has lost a bright light in Steve Jobs. I'll now add that because of the way he chose to live his life, that light will shine on into eternity. He changed the way we use technology. He made it fun and colorful and easy. He encouraged us all to follow our heart and our intuition. And he did more than talk the talk. He walked the walk. The only gift he was not blessed with was the length of time in which to do that.
I don't know if my thoughts add any freshness or insight to what has already been said, but it doesn't matter. I am listening to Steve Jobs today. I am not waiting for someone else to say it for me or assuming someone else will say it as well. If Steve had waited who knows what our world would like.
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