Today I am sending my Ho‘ohana ‘ÅŒlelo subscribers my e-letter a day early. Actually, they will get my normal issue tomorrow as usual too, this is a preface; the first of two parts this month. I would like to share a copy with you today. (2009 Update: My Ho‘ohana ‘ÅŒlelo e-letter is on hiatus as I concentrate on writing another book, so I have stripped that link out, however this post is still a great butt-kicker for me :-)
Context, and where we go from here
I’d like to start with two quotes, one for some context we are all painfully aware of now, and another about where we go from here. The context first:
“House leaders say they’re reconvening Thursday instead of adjourning for the year as planned, after dealing a $700 billion financial market bailout a stunning defeat. The fate of the rescue package remained in doubt as Democrats and Republicans both said they wanted to resurrect it. They were locked in a brutal round of partisan finger-pointing over why it failed. The Senate had planned a Wednesday vote on the measure. President Bush and his economic advisers, as well as congressional leaders in both parties say it’s vital to insulate ordinary Americans from the effects of Wall Street’s bad bets.”
—KGMB9 News
And about where we go from here:
You see things; and you say “why?”
But I dream of things that never were, and I say “Why not?”
—George Bernard Shaw
Worth repeating: I dream of things that never were, and I say “Why not?”
To President Bush and his economic advisers I say, you have a long way to go in ‘insulating’ this ordinary American, so get busy, and I have also sent that message to our Hawai‘i representatives and senators. To the rest of us I say, there is no use commiserating with the doom and gloom right now, let’s get to better work too —all of us.
In times like these I think about George Bernard Shaw’s words for the coaching I might need, so I can refuse to be a pessimist; I have to look for opportunity. I have to get out of bed every day with a positive expectancy about the world, whatever might be going on in it. I have to live my life with a positive expectation about me, and about my place in the world. I don’t want to wring my hands; I want them to be more useful than that. I want to feel more confident about my own circle of influence, and I want to know it won’t fail me. I have to know that I won’t fail me.
I am quite certain that you want those things too.
Your Ho‘ohana is your future
I’d like to repeat something from my Day One Essay this past September 1st, for the news of the day makes it more relevant than ever before:
“I believe that self-entrepreneurship of some kind one day down the pike (or to be more accurate, self-financing), is the new inevitability of our generation: In today’s economy, scores of people are finding they’ve been good working citizens and contributors to society their entire lives with very little to show for it. Their retirement dream never came true. They played the game of life following all the rules: What went wrong?
In short, what went wrong is that they followed someone else’s Ho‘ohana instead of authoring their own, something everyone will eventually have to do (and just as the leaders among you authored your self-leadership growth plan in August.)
The good news is this: It is never too late. Really.”
You may have to work a little harder right now, but it is never too late.
We are in a recession. Today’s news is depressing; it’s scary. The question is, would you rather succumb to commiserating with others on the doom and gloom, or would you rather look ahead, and very realistically do something about it?
“There is an old joke. If your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession. If you lose your job, it’s a depression. Like many jokes, this one hints at a truth. For you personally, it’s all about what happens to you. And your own economic situation depends mostly on whether you have a job.”
—Howard Dicus, in a blog post asking, How Bad Can Our economy Get?
I agree and disagree. It may depend mostly on whether you have a job, but not entirely. It depends on how you define job, and how you define work: Our Ho’ohana Language of Intention: Are we talking about the same thing?
We can work together as the Ho’ohana Community
Back on September 1st, I asked you to work with me on getting a new Ho’ohana Statement of positive expectancy in front of you, for I know this: Your Ho’ohana is your future AND our future.
Because the last day of the month happened to fall on a Tuesday, today is our wrap-up on Managing with Aloha Coaching. Please take a look at it, and think about the opportunity that is in front of you today, an opportunity you need to consider whatever happens when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes this Thursday.
Here’s the link: Finalizing your Ho’ohana Statement into Workable Form
What I write on MWAC is free for you, always has been. I am not trying to sell you; I am trying to help you and serve you as best I know how.
What can YOU be doing to “work better” right now?
We Ho’ohana together, Kākou.
~Rosa
More from George Bernard Shaw in the Talking Story Archives:
Nānā i ke kumu: Look to your Source, Find your Truth
Ah, I so, so love this value! I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret confidence: I will often decide upon our value of the month based on my own needs at any given time as well. I want to work
Learn to hunt and forage. That will be valuable in a severe depression.