At least I hope it isn’t for you. The media would have us believe the world is going into meltdown, and we are all going to be destitute and living on the streets and all because of Trump. But it is never like that.

When you listened to the broadcasts, you probably thought the sky was going to fall in today. But it hasn’t and it won’t. Can you recall all those days in your life when you wondered how you would get through them? Well, you did. They may not have been very comfortable at the time, but you survived, and it probably made you stronger as a result.

I can remember waiting to enter the examination hall at Congress House in London. That is the home of the TUC. I was going to sit one of my professional exams, and I remember asking myself why I was putting myself through that experience. But I did it and I passed, and I sat many more professional exams there and in the Horticultural Hall in London. I survived, and I think the result of going through that sort of hell was worthwhile. But on that day, it was not nice.

I was listening to a podcast by Ivan Misner, the founder of the highly successful networking organisation, BNI. In it, he said, today is the tomorrow that you were afraid of yesterday. That resonated with me.

I have had so many days that I dreaded, and I wondered how I was going to get through them. But I did, and none of them have had a lasting impact on me, other than perhaps to make me stronger as a person. After all, “what does not kill you, makes you stronger”. I think that’s right, and the worse the experience, the greater the potential to build up your mental strength and resilience. Of course, not everybody will be affected in the same way. There are some for whom these extreme experiences have quite the opposite effect.

For many years, I have travelled around the North of Scotland as I go between offices. That means hours in the car. It is said that most people could, if they wanted, learn a foreign language in that time. Whether it be half an hour or several hours, it is wasted time, so why not do something constructive with your time? I used to have quite a few personal development CDS that I could listen to when driving. I think the cumulative effect of all these hours of “training” had quite an impact on my thinking.

One of the ideas that I took on board is that ultimately, you are the captain of your own ship. You have ultimate control over everything that you do, and I mean everything. It means that you can never blame anyone else for anything you do because you were the one who decided to do it. It is really quite an empowering mindset.

So, I decide when to get up, when and where to work, or not work, who I want to work with, etc. Now, given that there are norms that generally guide us, there would be consequences, but it is absolutely my choice to suffer those consequences or not. No amount of pressure from anyone else can force me to do something if I decide that I will not do it.

Of course, what that means is that I work silly hours because I have goals that I want to achieve. They are not anyone else’s goals. They are all mine, and I have decided how and when to make progress toward achieving those goals.

You could, of course, argue that the way I think is partly conditioning from my parents and other influencers in my early years. But whatever was ingrained at that time could be overridden by my conscious thoughts now. Anyway, all this is far too complicated for me, and I will just decide my own actions based upon my experience through life, and that’s about it. I am sure a psychologist would have a field day with me. Perhaps this is why I ended up as an accountant, allegedly.

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be a good day. I have decided!

 

 

 

Alan E Long

The Long Partnership

07770 738770