The holidays are over and it seems like it takes me a week to get back into the swing of things. Christmas and New Years celebrations are over and the last of the leftovers are either gone, spoiled or in the freezer. Now it’s time to tackle 2017 and rollup my sleeves and get to work on an incredible year.
Ever since I learned how to set goals I have tried to have a ‘Theme’ for the year in what I want to accomplish. This year I am vacillating between two seemingly opposing themes. The first one is ‘Making changes that make a difference’ and the second one is ‘Keeping the main thing THE main thing.’
The first one evokes life changing events and possibly BIG changes I need to make. The second one seems to hint that nothing changes ,so stay on the same course. I think that both themes actually work well together.
I have found that if you do what is easy in life ,your life will be hard and the opposite is true that if you do what is hard your life will become easier. In other words. Your daily disciplines determine your future. If you change just to change that is equally as insane as continuing to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. So, what is the answer? The older I get the more I realise that the real foundations of my life stay the same and if I just hold fast to these principles my life will change in the areas that need improvement. It is called stability with constant change!
I have been married to Margo for 40 years and in the same field of business for an equal number of years. To some people that may seem a bit boring being married to the same person and in the same business for so many years. Both our marriage and business have changed over the years. I am obviously a better husband and businessman today than when I started as a newlywed or a greenie in business. Why? Because of a willingness to learn and change. I learned the need of becoming grounded in certain unmovable principles.
In business I was fortunate to find a few great mentors who taught me the ‘play book’ of business. They taught me building relationships along with integrity, honesty, treating people right and staying focused on getting the job done. These principles of success are unchanging in a changing world. I have never been willing to move or change in this area of my life and yet I find myself in 2016 asking myself ‘what can I change in 2016 to make a difference?’ .. a difference in my life and to make a positive difference in others lives.
The answer keeps coming back to me is to continue ‘Keeping the main thing THE main thing.’
The main thing is to keep doing what is succeeding, tweak the areas that need to be improved and stay hungry for knowledge, wisdom and growth in your life. Seems like I will be doing both themes in 2017!