The bright side of winter blues
By Kim Browne
Hello winter. Not my favourite time of the year, I’ll confess – but this year I’m adamant about concentrating on the positives associated with Jo’burg winters cold, short days. Firstly, it’s only really eight weeks long. I love snuggling in my thick, warm, goose-down duvet laden bed. It’s a great excuse for staying in, sitting by the fire and drinking fabulous red wine. I also love wearing boots, scarves and coats. It may be cold, but the sun does shine most days and the sky is usually blue. I also have something to look forward to – summer!
My point really, is that no matter what you’re faced with – there usually is a positive spin, you’ve just got to find it and hold on to it.
The same with business. I can lament all the things that go wrong on a daily basis – and sometimes it is cathartic to moan. But there is a fine line between always looking out for these things, obsessing over them and making them into bigger issues than they need to be.
The client that can’t make up his/her mind. The client that expects you to do things that you didn’t sign up for on a crazy timeline. The printers that messed up a job. Your colleague who doesn’t sing from the same song sheet as you do.
It’s easy to hide behind these things and use them as crutches on which to base your failure, inertia or unhappiness. It’s passing the buck.
Without these daily obstacles, it would be too easy to be successful, happy and energised. It would also be routine and boring, which makes you old, cynical and fries the brain.
Since June is all about “youth”, I plan to use the significant time I spend travelling to and from work in my car rethinking the negative things associated with business and life and freeing the positive. How’s that for a winter’s resolution!
At The Toast we are busy adapting and changing all the time. We are happy to have started additional new relationships that enhance our offering to clients.
The thing about hybrid is that it is by nature a confluence of different things – mashing together to create something unique and new but also changeable and adaptable. Our clients want solutions to their problems and we’re on it!
Oscar Wilde said “Those whom the gods love grow young”.
Happy Youth Day!
