Wake up, the world is different

Everywhere we look, and wherever we turn our heads most of the time, we will notice a new product, a new idea, a new invention and a new service. It is the innovation, technology, inventing and the speedy development era, which is different and distinct from any other era in our recorded history.

Many individuals are struggling, and finding it so difficult to survive, because they are still thinking and performing as if we are living thirty years ago. This kind of performance and thinking no longer fit reality. The world has changed and its continuous unpredictable rapid change is reality, and it is a permanent state.

We live in the twenty-first century. That means we have to live, practice, learn, think and perform as the 21^st century requires. It is the century of a continuous explosion of technologies’ inventions and implementations and a global economy that makes the challenges we face today totally different from those that had been before. It is the century of machines, computers and electronics where many human jobs have been vanishing, and no industry is exceptional. In other words, in the near future, unless you are an irreplaceable person, you probably be replaced by an RM 1000 micro processor.

The winners of tomorrow, who would sustain and grow will be those who are knowledgeable, skilled, committed, loyal, innovative, talented, passionate top performers and have the right mental attitude.

The only way to be prepared and to be able to surf during the high waves is that you have to change. You have to start making a change progress and you must actually get started. You must be able to put extra energy into yourself and be able to improve in every aspect of your life. In sports, business, life style, relationships, we cannot keep on doing what we have always been doing and expecting to have a better results or to win in this critical and rapidly changed world.

However, when it comes to change, there are three choices to be considered. The first is that you wait for things to change then respond or react (response and reaction are different) to these changes, and that reaction or response - in most cases - will be too late to be effective. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him”.

The second is that you anticipate that things will change then be prepared and get ready before they happen then react or respond to them, and that is always accompanied with stressful uncertainty.

The third is that you actively participate in the necessary change needed in you - as everything around you is changing, cope with these changes, predict other changes and create your own future, and that will make the big impact and difference in your life.

We are not in a strong position to change situations and circumstances around us, thus, we are challenged and forced to change ourselves. It is possible but it is hard, and you have to do a lot of hard work mentally and physically, and that work is really difficult. It is difficult because this work does not have a holiday or time-off at all. Changing yourself is a 24-hour job.

Sometimes you may face some difficulties and setbacks, but still you have to do it. If you do not, who else will? It is your responsibility and duty put on your shoulders and no one would carry them for you. Greatness is never given. It must be earned. Arnold Bennett said, “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts”.

However, it does not count what difficulties, setbacks and conditions we face in our lives, no matter what these conditions are, what matters is how do we meet these conditions and difficulties that we face. Zig Ziglar said, “You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make your attitude to fit those situations”.

If we need the change, the change will happen. It will happen to those who need it and implement it, not to those who are just reading or talking about it. Change will happen to those who are able to help themselves to be always motivated, willing to learn, and create remarkable usable ideas and strategies that help them to succeed in this unpredictable time.

Change will happen to those who surround themselves with positive people and provide themselves with whatever necessary support that will enable them to unleash their talents and greatness.

No one can turn the time back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a different ending. Start today and find new tools to challenge your thinking and prepare yourself well to be positively unique, different and distinct and reach a new level of accomplishments.

Capitalize and invest in developing you, commit to change, and have the right mental attitude, which will enable you to increase your potential and self-confidence and maximize the utilization of the abilities that you have.

There is a quote in this regard that I like. The author of this quote is unknown, but it commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Our only security for this age, which we are living and for the future is our ability to change.