The Seasons Are Changing, What's In Store For You?

"A closed mind is like a closed book: just a block of wood."
- Chinese Proverb

The "slow" Summer season seems to be over and business activity is just heating up before the holiday season rapidly approaches. For me, that brings a sense of rejuvenation. I attribute this to the changing season that forces people to continually adapt as there is much uncertainty to what next week will bring. The weather is going from one week of high 90's, to a couple of days of rain, then back to the low 90's and into the 80's, with another week of rain on the way - there's just no way to fully prepare for what's ahead. Retail stores are already holiday potpourris filling their aisles with a mix of Halloween candy and costumes, large harvest platters and cookware for Thanksgiving, and even Christmas decorations! With the constant change we'll all experience through the end of the year, it's important to keep an open mind to what may be just around the corner.

Business always gets interesting around this time of year. New ideas and old ideas converge and come to life as we're motivated by the changes around us, as well as being faced with reflection on the year, realizing we have less than three months left to achieve the goals we set out to accomplish. Somehow I feel the balancing of nature during this transitional period provides the energy to try and tackle it all. Although we may not manage to accomplish it all, If we didn't have an open mind, we'd quickly get buried by the challenges ahead and ultimately fall flat with our efforts or lack thereof.

As always, the same applies to your personal life. As you reflect back on what you have or haven't accomplished, with some of us already predicting resolutions for the new year, it's not too late to activate some of your original ideas, while gearing up for the new challenges that might be waiting for you right around the corner. The inconsistencies that the changing seasons bring may make it more difficult to find a rhythm, but if you keep an open mind, you may find yourself successful when you come out of it on the other end.

As I've said in the past, change is inevitable, and not keeping an open mind will only make your journey more difficult. Keep an open mind and work to balance what's going to happen, and what you want to have happen.