Sam Cooke said it, now pay attention.

Growing Pains

Like most men, I have had the same leather wallet for over a decade and if you were to look inside it, you would see a small plastic pocket that is large enough to fit two quarters.  In a world of ATM’s and credit cards, you may have forgotten just why the wallet manufacturers made an attempt to ensure that I have a place for those coins.  Well before cell phones made it into the hands of millions, you kept a quarter or two in order to use a pay phone.

Remember those?  Thought not.

There was a time when if you left your house, a pay phone was all that you had if you needed to communicate with someone.  You didn’t have to walk more than a few blocks to find one in a major city.  Now, they are harder to find than Monopoly pieces in that McDonald’s game.  To think that technology would make such a staple extinct in such a short period of time is amazing.  

Speaking of extinct, when was the last time you looked something up in an encyclopedia?

The bottom line is, almost nothing stays the same and if you don’t learn to adapt, you will be left behind.  Email and online payments are slowly making the U.S. Postal Service an afterthought and because they didn’t make changes, they are bleeding billions of dollars a year.  One’s success hinges on the ability to adjust in an ever-changing environment and our personal lives are no different.

Oftentimes in a moment of crisis or major event (i.e. New Year’s resolutions) we reflect on our lives and attempt to make changes.  But the problem is, these moments don’t happen often enough and we find ourselves stuck, watching the world pass us by.  Circumstances in my life have forced me to perform these evaluations in my life more than most but even in my case, I wasn’t doing it enough.

I propose that every 6 months, we should all take a long look in the mirror and analyze our lives from top to bottom:  What makes me happy?  Who in my life is making me miserable?  Am I satisfied with my career?  This process is difficult at first because the man in the mirror is the easiest person to lie to and it’s difficult to take responsibility for your unhappiness.  But this process is an opportunity to make improvements that will take you one step closer to reaching your goals.

If your job is not paying enough and you feel there’s better opportunities out there for you, don’t wait - update your resume and call your contacts.  If that man in your life doesn’t treat you the way that you deserve, don’t waste time - move on.  Haven’t taken a vacation in a while?  Start small and look at flights to a nearby location for a weekend getaway.  Baby steps might be small but little progress is always better than none.

Time waits for no one so don’t be afraid to make changes and take risks when you see an opportunity in front of you.  Life doesn’t let us know when the changes will come, it’s our responsibility to be prepared and anticipate rather than react.  Because in a world filled with iPods…

The last thing you want is to be the nerdy kid lugging around a Walkman.