Striving towards Excellence

I listened to Power Wave CD where Bill was talking about Thomas Friedman's book “The World is Flat”. It's all about globalization and a leveling of the playing field by emerging economies. Excellent book. The title made me think about a totally different topic though - the value of perspective.

The world isn't flat - the world is small. Here's the point I'm trying to offer to you: we live on a small planet in just one of a vast array of galaxies in a gigantic universe. And you and I are just one of billions of people here. Are the problems we face as we walk through our days really so big? A little dose of perspective makes life easier to manage.

A question I sometimes ask myself when I'm facing a struggle is this one: “will this matter a year from now?” If not, I move on - fast. Another great question to share with your team at work or your family at home is “has someone died here?” If not, things settle down and calmer minds generally prevail.

Keep perspective. Most of the problems we think are the end of the world turn out to be blessings, in hindsight. I've faced things in my life that seemed so painful at first. But with the passage of time, those evolved into the very things that made my life better and happier and more rewarding. And I'd guess the same holds true for you.

So I invite you to do some inner work around perspective today. Count your blessings. Focus on the good. Smile and laugh more. The world is small and life is short - but I've also learned it's also really really wide. Keep shining.