STRIVE TO THRIVE
. . . or just to survive?
Saturday Jan. 4, 2014
What if?
What if what?
What if anything?
Do we spend enough time ‘what if-ing’?
Or not enough?
I don’t mean ‘what if I’d done something differently?’ because re-living theoretical versions of our decisions might give us some insight, but it can’t change anything that has happened. Studying our rear-window judgments of what we should, or should not, have done is introspective, evaluative and sometimes downright depressing.
But how about this . . .
How about ‘what if-ing’ in terms of:
What if I tried that?
What if I did this?
What if I talked to _______ about _________?
What if we tried to make ________ happen?
What if we organized a ___________ to make __________ happen?
If we do excellent what-ifing I think we’ll get better results what-doing!
Some who’ve talked with me recently might sense a shift in my thinking. That’s because there has been a shift in my thinking. In terms of my whole-life I’ve recognized that I am the only one who can lose my weight, alter my experiences, improve my health, improve my business, improve my writing, expand my horizons or enhance my experience.
What if?
What if I took charge?
That seems silly – because we are all in charge of our own lives. Think about how in charge you are the next time a telemarketer calls, or government announces new rules, or someone decides they don’t want to play the game of life with you the way you want to – and ask yourself how in charge of your life you are?
Next time a doctor says ‘take these for 90 days and we’ll re-evaluate’, who is in charge then?
Next time someone says ‘no thanks’ to your sales pitch, who is in charge then?
We get what we negotiate in life.
The first negotiation is with ourselves. The first question in that negotiation has to be ‘how important is this to you?’
How important is our physical health, our emotional well being?
How important is our family and friend time, how important are our career and business ambitions?
How important are our change the world desires? Or our tasting life appetite?
What if I took charge of my life?
What if you took charge of yours?
I suppose group think could fit this too.
What if we all took charge of our country, our environment, our economy, our institutions or our own companies?
What if . . .
Mark Kolke
200,056
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -20C (-24C wind chill) /-3F, light overcast, more snow – even Gusta didn’t want to walk far . . . not exceptionally cold, just typically Canadian and January . . .
Comments Received:
Your column "Steps to Take" reminded me of past journeys featuring almost unbelievable adversity, with extreme steps of challenge that far exceed anything we tend to do today. The items in National Geographic (end of 2013) about the history of Antarctic exploration illuminate such journeys. Stimulus #1: the astounding challenges met by the original Mawson Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) between 1911 and 1914, plus others. Here are some words from National Geographic to grab you by the throat: "In those days, there was no hope of rescue from another ship. (Captain John King) Davis and (Douglas) Mawson had no radio contact with the outside world, and no one in Australia knew where the ship was. There were no icebreakers back then. (If stuck in the ice) the only hope was to winter over onboard and hope the next summer's thaw freed the vessel. A few years after the AAE, the pressure of heavy ice sank Sir Ernest Shackleton's (ship) Endurance. His only option ... was an incredible over-ice trek to Elephant Island and (then) an open-boat journey to South Georgia Island (by dead reckoning in a tiny lifeboat saved from the Endurance), now considered one of the great survival deeds of all time." Stimulus #2: 22 negatives of Antarctic exploration, 100 years old and beautifully restored, have been made available. We can now look through an amazing window back to a time when, for example, my parents were just being born. Can't be that long ago, can it? Oh, yes it can! Have a look at those pictures! There's much more at "6 Reasons Antarctic Explorers Were Tougher 100 Years Ago" <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131231-antarctica-ship-ice-trapped-explorers-history-science>, and "Electrifying Photos of the Early Age of Antarctic Exploration Found" < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131231-antarctica-photographs-aurora-endurance-south-pole >. Puts our "Steps to Take" of today into perspective! Cheers / BE, Calgary, AB
Attitude, attitude, attitude. That is what life is all about. I read a quote many, many years ago that I adopted as my mantra, if you will. "You can't direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails." Pure and simple; it is up to each one of us how we approach and accept what life has to throw at us. I can laugh at adversity, if I choose. I can throw myself a pity party knowing full well I will be the only one at the party. I can smile when I want to cry. I can return kindness for abuse and rejection. The right to choose our own attitude is truly the only control we have over our lives. I have found that when my attitude is upbeat and content in the face of adversity, every one who views that is wondering what it is that I know that they don't. Nice to have a secret. GW, Brady, Tx
