I’m still madly busy, and I have been for a number of months.
However, I still had enough wits about me to notice a lot of change going on in the last month or so.
For instance, the weather in mid-June was so cold that we seriously contemplated turning on the heat. But now, it’s hot enough that I’m sweating in my shorts with the doors and windows open.
Oh, and there was also that Brexit vote — the referendum to determine if Great Britain would remain in the European Union or leave. Our government promised us they’d give us a vote when they came into power a couple years ago, and everyone thought it was a stupid thing to do, but they did it anyway.
We all went off to the polls, with more of us voting to leave than to stay. The country was split about 51/49, and the result was a complete shock to the pundits and political leaders. Now, we have to negotiate our way out of trade deals with EU countries. The prime minister, David Cameron, resigned, so we have a new prime minister who’s only our second female prime minister since Margaret Thatcher, and the opposition Labour party are in complete disarray. We even got a new mayor of London as well.
Pretty much overnight, our citizens marking a simple cross on a piece of paper changed everything forever. The ramifications of that vote will last for generations, and the results will be far-reaching and rapid, not least of which is that the value of the pound has fallen dramatically against the euro and the US dollar (which makes my trip to Spain more expensive than it would have been).
The referendum started as an idea and a thought. Then, the government gave everyone the option to vote on it. Rightly or wrongly, it’s had massive consequences because of the action we took.
Most people tend to hate change, but you really have to embrace it or you’ll be left behind rather quickly. All change starts with a thought and a belief, but nothing really changes unless you take some action.
In thinking about change for this article, I did a quick search online and stumbled across a site called Change.org. If you haven’t heard of it, Change.org is a website where people petition on various things to make positive changes in the world. More than 150 million people have used the site, and there are whole loads of stuff people come together over. The coolest part is that anyone can start a petition, and if you get enough votes, you can have the issue taken to politicians in Parliament for a debate.
These days, it’s more accessible than ever to make changes happen in the world. With things like Brexit, it’s clear that change is coming whether we like it or not. I embrace change because it means we’re moving.
The best moments of change are those that you can create yourself: meeting someone new, doing something you’ve never done before, etc.
But I try not to waste too much of my energy worrying about change I can’t control — I focus on my own response.
The best moments of change are those that you can create yourself: meeting someone new, doing something you’ve never done before, etc. In my business, I went into a partnership at the beginning of the year — an idea we’ve had since last summer. It was just an idea for quite a while, until we finally took action by getting together and talking about it. Now that we’ve been partnered for a half a year, it’s clear that the benefits to both our businesses was swift and dramatic.
We’ve got to get on and make the most of it, whether you like change or not. Most importantly, create your own change by getting off your bum and taking positive action. When you move with the times and take advantage of opportunities that come your way, amazing things can happen.
Enjoy your summer,
Steve Lazarus
