It's Never Too Late To Change

The more I look around, the more convinced I am that the happiest and most successful people the ones whose ears and eyes are always tuned to opportunity. These are rare people in our society.

My message for today is how these people take their cues from the environment, and pursue what seems to be the natural course of action for them. If their environment works for them, they choose to remain in it and grown within it. If their environment lacks enthusiasm, positive people, or opportunity they step out of it and find a better one.

Long before we are old enough to make any meaningful decisions about our future, we learn to take cues from the environment that shapes our life. The strong in our society are the people who make a conscious decision not to allow their environment to shape and control their life.

For some people, growing up in a family mold can be healthy and rewarding. Being raised by educated parents in a home where creative ideas are encouraged, where bookshelves filled with great books line the walls and where options and opportunity abound. For these people, their environment should be allowed to mold their futures.

Statistically, however, the chances of being raised in such an environment are rare indeed. For most of us, breaking the tradition of our younger years and steering toward a more interesting and productive course is a much better idea. But such action requires a decision.

Here is the good news: If you haven't yet made your decision to stay with or turn away from your early environment, the opportunity is still available, every hour, every day, month after month, year after year.

Here is even better news. Because we are in the Information Age there are more opportunities than at any time in history. The future belongs to the competent. The people who are the most educated and do something with their knowledge.

Whether you go to the library and check out one business book every week to read or buy one at a book store, it will amount to you reading fifty books per year. Fifty books per year will total about five hundred books over the next ten years. Just think of the competitive edge all that knowledge will give you in your chosen field!

One of my favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw, and seems to fit today's message perfectly. He said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."

What would you like to do with your life? You have the time to change, and it is never too late. But it is up to you!