What's in Store for You is Largely up to You

By Rob Minton & John Mazzara

For many, 2009 was a year of "change".  The question is, was it positive or negative.  To a large extent, the answer lies within.  In the MinnepolisStar Tribune today, they highlighted 3 people who had had a career change.  Each of the individuals is doing something completely different than they were a year ago.  Each is trying to master their destiny.  Change is a constant, how we embrace it is the key.  I have 3 friends going through a divorce.  Two are moving forward positively, whereas one is being consumed by it.  Again, life changes-each had been married 18 years or more.  One was 29 years.  Anyway, nothing is guaranteed, nothing is without change.  My industries-the financial sector-has gone through tremdous upheaval in the last 24 months.  Yet, we are reacting to the market and becoming better. 

There was a quote once attributed to football coach Lou Holtz that most of us have probably heard. "Life is 10 percent what happens to you," it goes, "and 90 percent how you react to it."

The point is that some things that affect our lives, we have no control over. What we CAN control is how we deal with it. It's something to keep in mind now that it's 2010.

Instead of wondering what 2010 has in store for us, maybe we should instead ask, "What do I have in store for 2010?"

We often get caught up in what "happens" to us rather than realizing that our response to it -- which we CAN control -- is instead what is going to shape us. For example, how many millionaires have gone through bankruptcy, lost a fortune, then rebuilt it? Donald Trump, for one, comes to mind.

Bankruptcy "happened" to the Donald. But he reacted to it by building a fortune and becoming even more successful today. Every adverse thing that "happens" to us is an opportunity; an opportunity to learn and self-correct, but also an opportunity to practice the valuable life skill of affecting the ultimate outcome with our response.

For example, how many new small businesses will be born out of the high unemployment of the recent U.S. recession? You can bet that some of the 10 percent or so of Americans who had unemployment "happen" to them have used the situation to go to work for themselves. The entrepreneurial types who become successful after such an event will have made something happen -- affecting the ultimate outcome with their reaction -- instead of just letting it happen to them.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that producing a positive reaction to a negative event is easy. It takes practice. It takes a knowledge of oneself to understand how to quash the self-pity, self-doubt and knee-jerk angry reactions that can come with a negative event. Some of this is human nature. In fact, there is a human mechanism termed by psychologists as "fight or flight."

When confronted, there are two basic responses we have. Fight and flight. We either face our adversary and defend ourselves, or we run. The question is, which do we do and when? Answering that for yourself will help you react positively to negative events. Are you going to fight or are you going to run?

The answer will let you know if 2010 is going to happen to you, or if YOU are going to happen to 2010.  Search for your new Minneapolis home or Minnesota real estate at my site.  Your new MN home loan can be found at our mortgage website.