So we hope that you had a great festive period and that you start 2008 in fine fettle and looking forward with optimism and relish.
Sadly for some this past Christmas period, life has dealt a cruel blow. We have two friends who have lost family members and whilst all deaths are sad particularly at this time period, one was expected and one was sudden. At just 44, he survived a serious road accident and then just 10 days later on the 23rd December, he died suddenly and unexpectedly at home from what is believed to be a blood clot. He leaves a wife and two children.
This story goes to the heart of my newsletter today - 'Carpe Diem' - seize the day.
A simple and largely rhetorical question I put to you is this. Let's say you have been to your doctor's to get the result of some recent tests. You weren't too worried about the results but your doctor has bad news for you, very bad news and also gives you a short timeline.
So you go away and contemplate your life and what you could and should have done. The question I have for you is this: if this were you, is there anything that you would change in your life right now or want to do that you have never done or want to say to someone that you kept putting off? If your answer is 'yes' then why are you waiting to be told that you only have a short time left before you will do it.
Learn to wake every morning as if it is your last, with all the energy and excitement about what you are going to pack in to today - remember, everyday you are given a bank balance of £86,400 to spend as you choose on anything you choose. The only condition is that at the end of the day, anything that is left is lost forever - you cannot carry it forward but you can keep all the profit you make from using it. Would you make sure that you have used every penny? If you haven't figured it out yet, there are 86,400 seconds in every day - use it wisely of course but make blooming well sure that you use it!
Okay, so now we start a new year - doom and gloomy projections all around us. Recession this; strike that; business down; fuel up. So what are you going to do about this? Can you do anything about this? Probably not, so how are you going to work with what you have got?
Don't spend or use your 86,400 worrying about it - if the problem has a solution, why worry; if the problem has no solution, why worry; use your 86,400 seconds to good and positive effect at home and at work.
Let us figure out who has the skills in our organisations to navigate these times. Who has the flexible and versatile skills to use every second to continue to grow our businesses and get us to 2009 and beyond.
And oh yes, here's the commercial plug - if you find you haven't got the skills or flexibility because you didn't want to spend the cash before now, oh dear, you'd better talk to us - we will show you how.
My dear friends, colleagues, acquaintances and those of you who subscribe to our newsletter who I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting - we wish you and your families well, prosperity in business and as I said to one of my friends over Christmas, let's hope that the new year brings relief to all those who are absent, lost and left-behind.
Regards to you all
Gary Payne
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Author: Gary Payne, The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd
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