SNOW

Hello again

Did you see it? It snowed the other week. Small white things fell from the sky and coalesced into a blanket of cold wet skiddy stuff.

Driving was, let us say, a bit of a challenge.

If only someone had told the Met Office, because they didn’t seem to know this weather was coming. So a BBQ summer and a mild winter turned into a “we had a summer?” and a winter that harks back to the Victorian era.  Funny how exactly the same thing happened last year.  In fact that's three year in a row the Met Office have got it completely wrong.  Good to see their £33 million computer is doing its job
It’s safe to say we don’t seem to handle snow very well. But I’m sure the “lessons will be learnt” and that those responsible for the failings will be suitably rewarded. You don’t get the sack for incompetence these days.......... you get promoted!  The closure of Heathrow is a national scandal.

Now 2 years ago I was in New York when it snowed big style, something like 6 inches in two hours. This occurred the night before a public holiday. And yet, the next day when I left my hotel, all the roads were clear of snow and most of the sidewalks too.
People actually came in on a public holiday to clean the snow off the pavements outside their property. Dumper trucks were fitted with ploughs, and gritters were absolutely everywhere.  But then of course, they are used to it so we are told.

It was like a military operation (where the military were actually kitted out with the equipment they needed to do the job).  That was why it was so effectively dealt with.  Admittedly they had a bit more of a challenge this year, but then, did you see how much snow they had to deal with???

Unfortunately WE live in a country where you can get sued for doing the public act of clearing the front of your house or business. Grit the path to your practice, and if someone slips, they can sue you. Leave the snow where it is to turn into ice, and they can’t, because it’s classed as an act of god.

The preceding paragraph is all you need to know about this country and the state it’s presently in. That and the perception that nothing works anymore. Well actually, there is one thing that works and works very well. The strange phenomenon where money just disappears from your bank account.

Many of you will have noticed that you often have more month at the end of your money. It’s like it evaporates into the ether. Where does it all go? You earn a lot more than the average person, and yet still you don’t seem to be able to accumulate enough to actually have anything that you could call savings.
And then your tax bill comes.

There is a law called Parkinson’s Law that states “Expenses rise to meet earnings”. If you do not break Parkinson’s Law, you end up in debt. You end up working to provide food and shelter for other people. Which brings me to a question:
Why do you work?

Do you work because you enjoy what you do, or do you work to pay for your THINGS? You work to pay for your house and your nice car and your oversees holiday and your trips to Waitrose. You work so that you have a level of lifestyle that you feel comfortable with.

Most people work 5 days to enjoy 2..... and they don’t really enjoy the 2.
To me this is utter madness. If you’re not enjoying what you are doing......... why do it? If your job is a chore, your life is basically slavery. You become a slave to your lifestyle. You think your IPods and your fifty inch flat screen TV’s make up for it, but they don’t.

They don’t even come close.

As Tyler Durden once wisely said, “The things you own end up owning you. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives”. Your life is not about your trinkets, it is about experience. It is about joy and love and fulfilment. You cannot get lasting meaningful happiness by using your credit card. That can only come from within. You don’t need a new food [processor and a microwave to be happy. You can just be happy. Now, this instant. There’s only one person who can decide if you are happy or not..... YOU. So make your own rules up.

And to be honest I kind of forgot that this last year. I forgot who I was and wandered onto a path of inaction and sloth. It’s a tempting path, it feels comfortable..... at first. But then you stop growing, and the mind starts to claw at itself. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of changes to make. Fortunately I have the perfect tool at my disposal for this, my Mastermind Alliance goal setting product.
But back to the white stuff. Watching how people reacted to the snow made me think. The kids loved it. The adults hated it. The kids (and the big kids....... you know who you are) built snowmen. The grumpy grownups worried about slipping.

So when it snowed and you found yourself unable to get to work, what was YOUR reaction?

• “Ah good, I can have a day off from those annoying patients” – time to change jobs perhaps?
• “I can spend some quality time with the kids for a change” – were you not spending quality time already?
• “Damn, how am I going to make my UDA’s in this kind of weather? I’ll get claw back” - fear is no place to live your life.
• “Bloody council haven’t gritted the road” – well, do you really expect every council to be able to grit every road to perfection? Be realistic here.
• “Let’s have some FUN” – now that’s more like it.

Your response to the snow will tell you a lot about who you are. Who you are determines the results you will have in life. The question is, do you know who you are? Perhaps you should take a moment to answer that question.