After traveling extensively to South Africa, Russia, Asia, and Spain recently, and just returning from a 3-week trip that covered the UK and Malaysia, I am once again reminded of the common thread of the human experience: Hope.
I know that every one I meet, everywhere I go shares an un-killable belief that there is something better out there for themselves and their families. I consider this one of the traits that makes us human. I don’t think animals spend much time hoping to build a brighter future. But, I know that all the people I have met have a desire for things to ultimately get better for them.
I also know that when people have this hope driving them, they are willing to work incredibly hard. What I find very exciting is that over the past 3 years, people have come to the realization that the hardest and most rewarding work they must do to get what they want is manage their own “Little Voice”. There has been a significant shift in global recognition that personal development and working on what is going on internally is going to make all the difference in generating the results people want to achieve.
This has led to a major shift in the level of knowledge most people have today than they did just a few years ago. It seems people are reading and educating themselves more than ever to take on the quest of self improvement.
Sometimes, our quest to improve our situation requires we change our environment. I don’t believe that a strong will can overcome the challenges of an unhealthy and unsupportive environment. I was recently asked what the best thing to do would be if you find yourself in an environment that holds you down or offers you no hope for the better life you seek. In almost all cases, I say change your environment.
That might mean packing a bag and moving to a new place, or simply changing the people that you spend the majority of your time with. I know that peoples fear of the unknown is sometimes greater than the difficulties they already exist with everyday. But, if you have hope for a better future and are in an unhealthy or unsupportive environment, it may be time to move on despite your fears.
The reality is, if you make such a drastic change as a new geography or a new group of friends and coworkers, odds are very high in your favor that you will not starve, disintegrate or fail and in fact, you are likely to actually be rewarded for taking action and achieving the better life that motivated your change in the first place.
