Pervasive Change
The Times They Are A Changin' ...
These thought provoking words from Bob Dylan's 1964 album of the same name (which so captured the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960s) have never been more true!
- Change has happened in great measure in the past!
- Change is rampant in our lives today!
- You can put money on it that change will be a major factor in our lives in the future!
Change is so pervasive that it is almost impossible to analyse it and describe it fully. However, it is part of life and there are a number of ways you can face the change in YOUR life:
- You can deny that change is happening and face the consequences.
- You can ignore it and hope for the best.
- You can become a victim of change - it may take years (and tears) to recover.
- You can observe the coming change and look for problems and challenges and try to avoid them.
- You can embrace the coming change and look for opportunities for yourself AND where the opportunities are for you to help and serve others.
I don't think I have ever lived through a more traumatic time of change in our world and in my life. Political, personal, relational, social, organisational, financial change is all around us.
Most of us probably have certain support structures we can call on to help us handle the ravages of change, but ultimately, the way we handle the change, work our way through it, and come out on the other side, is entirely our own responsibility.
I do not want to rehash any change management philosophies, but for many of us, the biggest impact of change in our lives today is caused by financial change which, in itself has a knock on effect on personal, relational, political, social and organisational change.
Today's economy is a battlefield of change and we seem to permanently live in the amorphous cloud that exists between our structured past and our preferred future! I don't believe any person, country, organisation or group on this planet has been left untouched by the changes and ravages of the financial turmoil of recent years.
Some of us have done better than others, for many reasons, but I fear that the current change cycle is not yet over and will still have an effect on us for years to come.
The great tragedy is that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer (not original I know, but nevertheless true).
However, there is hope!
We all know the Internet provides massive opportunity to share in the billions of dollars that are spent daily in this environment. Unfortunately, it seems to be only the top 5% of those who work the Internet who get the real benefit. The rest of the "hopefuls" earn a pittance or indeed, lose money which I am sure they can ill afford.
But when I say there is hope, it is because I have observed the gradual appearance of some programs which have the interests of their subscribers at heart, and while they are in business to earn a profit, they do not appear to be solely interested in "ripping one off" and just taking all the cash. Instead, they seem to be committed to providing their subscribers with a return and giving value in exchange for whatever fee they charge.
These programs will, in the next few months or years make things really interesting as I believe we will start to see more and more Internet players making use of them, finally making some money from the Internet and eventually earning a living wage/return (whatever you would like to call it) from their Internet efforts. This will be a real blessing for all those who have struggled for so long.
Keep your eyes open, search often with Google or whichever search engine you choose, consider changing your own attitude from one of "sell, sell, sell" to one of helping and serving others, and when you find these programs and use them in the way they are intended, you will reap great rewards, not only financially, but in your heart and peace of mind as well.
