It's now exactly 8 months and a day since I was persuaded, albeit reluctantly, to go along to an internal 'Delivering excellence' workshop. With some bloke called Andy Cope from the Art of Brilliance group it sounded like, and I bleated it probably was, another pointless American styled self development concept where the world is your oyster for you to grasp no matter what.
How wrong was I! With a fresh and frank down to earth approach a swathe was cut through all the usual dry and often impenetrable academic hyperbole to give one simple clear message: Be yourself in the best possible brilliant way!
Over an hour or so we were introduced to engaging ideas effectively showing how we think of happiness as being a destination to be achieved or reached at some point in the future. However like the proverbial end of the rainbow it is never quite attained so we constantly focus on the horizon aiming for the weekend, holiday, or the next big thing. Not only that, emotionally our feelings about life fixate on average with some, mood hoovers, on permanent minus sucking the life and soul out of a room in one fell swoop.
But the silver bullet is that it's a mindset and by simply 'flipping' how we think and more importantly how we react we can take a more sustained upbeat view of life and improve not only what we do but also how others act as well. If we radiate positivity then, just like the sun, others will bathe and be affected by its brilliance!
Suddenly my dad's words asking, some 19 years ago, when I was going to stop whinging about the job smacked me squarely between the eyes! I had tended to denigrate what I achieved despite what was happening rather than because of what I did. 'Surviving' and 'Well the weekend is here soon' had been etched into my brain, my vocabulary and my work.
To say I was blown away would be to put it mildly. I came away realising that life was for living and not for wasting and vowed to;
- firstly think of each waking day as a blessing and treat it accordingly, if you are lucky to have legs then you should use them.
- secondly slow down the mad dash through life and appreciate every single aspect of it, take time to smell the roses and see the great things around us.
- thirdly stop trying to achieve a life/work balance as it's irrelevant, life is a balance of home AND work, to be a success we need to make the most of them both. If we hate either then what life is there?
Applying these basic principles over the last 8 months has, for me and I hope those around me, meant a much better fulfilling existence. Okay there's still room for improvement and there have been ups and downs but hey life is like that. What is great is that I have a different perspective on the world and how I react to it.
Having used my Twitter account, @waltonsimon, to not only facilitate my mindset change but also promote the ideas emanating from this area I'm intending to use this blog to publish some of my musings. So onwards and upwards, as Oscar Wilde supposedly said 'Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.' I look forward to you visiting this site next time I publish.
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