Trifecta of Life Choices
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the wonderful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! Today’s podcast and blog post will give you some thoughts to ponder. If you want to find out more, including what my take is on the trifecta of opportunity, challenge or disaster then stay tuned!
In any situation you will come upon as an artist, author or even in general life, you will have a choice on how to react to them. These choices take the form of a trifecta which include accepting it as an opportunity, secondly you can see it as a challenge or thirdly you can see it as a disaster. How you react will depend on how you see the situation. Let me give you an example that may help it make more sense. When COVID began, we all knew it was not a good thing. It was the situation. I also knew I would be locked up for a goodly portion of the time due to a weakened immune system. Now, I could have seen it as a disaster and I would have driven myself out of my mind and everyone around me by feeling miserable about it. Whining about how it was ruining my life. On the other hand, I could see it as an opportunity or challenge. The challenge for me was that I knew I needed to try to see what I could do. I am not one to sit around and do nothing. The lockdown thing was a fact. It wasn’t going away. So, what could I do while I am at home? I also know that once the vaccines are done, there will still be some danger because there are still rare occurrences of it with two doses of the vaccines. So, I will likely have to be patient until the vaccines and time have more or less taken care of the problem. With the challenge of finding something I could do, I found the opportunity which was to work on e-books, develop my blog posts, social media channels and photography and all the work that goes with the social network channels. It’s not perfect, but if we expect perfect we’ll be sadly disappointed. Nothing in life is perfect
So, you see, there are at least three ways to see any situation. Of course they are also not the only ways, but I have to keep things within about ten minute time frame. They can lead to moving forward. But there is possibility at least one of them can keep you stuck. But none of the ways is inherently right or wrong because each person reacts differently and are motivated by different things. However, you may find you’re happier if you don’t see everything as a disaster. Also by not looking for the disaster first, but searching for a logical answer you may find things more manageable. If you see a situation as a disaster, you might have prepared for worse to come and work on things from that aspect….but you might have stayed stuck in survival mode as well. No matter what the situation, you have to first accept the situation as it is. You need to acknowledge that the situation is there and you can’t make it go away and ignoring it won’t make it better. Once you do that, you can take it as either an opportunity, challenge or a disaster. People who don’t understand that they have choices are the ones that are most miserable in any negative situation. As Deepak Chopra said, “No matter what the situation, remind yourself, I have a choice.” You may not find the choice to be one of the three that I mention here. There are various levels and various degrees, and various choices, but many fall under those three categories. Either way, you have to make a choice. If you see that you have a choice, then you are half way there. You may not have a choice about the situation, but you do have a choice of how you handle it even if the choices don’t look all that great. You still have choice. Knowing that you have choice is the most important thing in helping you to be able to move forward. Everyone has choices. You don’t always like the choices.
The interesting thing is that someone who accepts things as an opportunity or challenge can make a bigger difference than anyone could expect. If you want to have one example, Joey Moss fits the bill. He had a lot to teach people who wanted to learn. Everyone has the capability of teaching people something good. They have found a wonderful way to honour his memory and I for one am ecstatic about it, they are naming a kindergarten to Grade 9 School after him. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont.... If you ever wonder if one person can make a difference, or can one person make a huge impression, then obviously the answer is yes. Not everyone is Joey Moss, but everyone can work toward making the world around them a better place. He made an impression on a whole major Canadian city (Edmonton, AB) and across Canada and the hockey world in general. He made an impression to the point that they are going to name a school after him. He never gave up, he always showed up and he always did his best. His family is partially responsible for it as they allowed Joey to develop his own passion and his own career and didn’t tell him he couldn’t. He might have gotten the job because of Wayne Gretzky, but he kept it because he made it a spectacular career and did a great job of it. One person can change things if they just keep working at being themselves and doing the best they can. If everyone worked as hard at being a role model, we’d have a much better world. Yes, he was special. It’s wonderful to see that the world is starting to accept that special comes in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and ability levels. We no longer see special as being one type of person…this, in my humble opinion, is a change for the better. Making an impression on people takes being oneself and keep on trying and working while keeping enthusiasm for what you do.
It might sound easy to take things as a challenge or opportunity rather than a disaster, but it isn’t. No one can do this perfectly, but with practice one can reduce the negative outcomes. Another way to develop this skill is to think about a situation that didn’t really go as you would have wanted. Then practice how you would deal with the situation in future. Sales is a great example of where you get opportunities to practice skills daily. Say you lost a sale because of how you dealt with a customer. Well, this is something that colleagues might be able to help with. You could work out how you’d like to better deal with the situation in future. Find a way to say things so that you are honest in your approach, but diplomatic enough that you can give truth while still not alienating the customer. One example I could give is the approach to the cell phone from my last blog post. The one where they lost our confidence by telling us we bought a piece of crap. In future, they might approach it saying that I’m sorry, the cell is rather older for cell technology as it is changing so fast right now and the success rate of fixing it is really limited and it can be costly. Might I help you explore getting a new cell rather than fixing something that might not work? What price range are you interested in? You might still lose the sale, but it will not get a negative reaction from the customer. The other option might be to refer them to their service provider and hope for future sales to the customer for other things. Or once the cell isn’t fixed, they may come back…that one is tricky as you’d have to show some interest in serving the customer in future if the fix didn’t work.
Be realistically unrealistic and understand that you always have choices when it comes to how you react and act. It is very important in any career that you develop skills. No career or path is as easy as people working at it long term make it look. You can become better at any job over time and with experience. Many people focus simply on success rather than understanding that there are steps that have to be taken and success might not happen overnight. It might take time and continued efforts. It all depends on how people look at the situation. Is it an opportunity, challenge or a disaster? I know that I try to look at things either as an opportunity or a challenge. If I see there is something not working for me, then I look at what resources I need. It is important to look realistically at what resources I am willing to work with and decide which one will help me to make choices such as the current one of moving to another publishing company. I knew I was feeling stale. I haven’t gotten things back up and running, but I’m in process. I am still on Amazon and intend to stick with that avenue but am in process of moving over to another forum that will allow me a little more freedom for other formats. You can still find me on Amazon. I hope the next home for my e-books will give me the opportunities I need to grow and move forward. I manage my social networks so that I can be out there for people to see my work and get a taste of A & J PEI Treasures. I’m one of those behind the scene types. Not everyone likes being in front of the camera…some like being behind the scenes. It’s up to each individual to figure out what works for them.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
My e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
In any situation you will come upon as an artist, author or even in general life, you will have a choice on how to react to them. These choices take the form of a trifecta which include accepting it as an opportunity, secondly you can see it as a challenge or thirdly you can see it as a disaster. How you react will depend on how you see the situation. Let me give you an example that may help it make more sense. When COVID began, we all knew it was not a good thing. It was the situation. I also knew I would be locked up for a goodly portion of the time due to a weakened immune system. Now, I could have seen it as a disaster and I would have driven myself out of my mind and everyone around me by feeling miserable about it. Whining about how it was ruining my life. On the other hand, I could see it as an opportunity or challenge. The challenge for me was that I knew I needed to try to see what I could do. I am not one to sit around and do nothing. The lockdown thing was a fact. It wasn’t going away. So, what could I do while I am at home? I also know that once the vaccines are done, there will still be some danger because there are still rare occurrences of it with two doses of the vaccines. So, I will likely have to be patient until the vaccines and time have more or less taken care of the problem. With the challenge of finding something I could do, I found the opportunity which was to work on e-books, develop my blog posts, social media channels and photography and all the work that goes with the social network channels. It’s not perfect, but if we expect perfect we’ll be sadly disappointed. Nothing in life is perfect
So, you see, there are at least three ways to see any situation. Of course they are also not the only ways, but I have to keep things within about ten minute time frame. They can lead to moving forward. But there is possibility at least one of them can keep you stuck. But none of the ways is inherently right or wrong because each person reacts differently and are motivated by different things. However, you may find you’re happier if you don’t see everything as a disaster. Also by not looking for the disaster first, but searching for a logical answer you may find things more manageable. If you see a situation as a disaster, you might have prepared for worse to come and work on things from that aspect….but you might have stayed stuck in survival mode as well. No matter what the situation, you have to first accept the situation as it is. You need to acknowledge that the situation is there and you can’t make it go away and ignoring it won’t make it better. Once you do that, you can take it as either an opportunity, challenge or a disaster. People who don’t understand that they have choices are the ones that are most miserable in any negative situation. As Deepak Chopra said, “No matter what the situation, remind yourself, I have a choice.” You may not find the choice to be one of the three that I mention here. There are various levels and various degrees, and various choices, but many fall under those three categories. Either way, you have to make a choice. If you see that you have a choice, then you are half way there. You may not have a choice about the situation, but you do have a choice of how you handle it even if the choices don’t look all that great. You still have choice. Knowing that you have choice is the most important thing in helping you to be able to move forward. Everyone has choices. You don’t always like the choices.
The interesting thing is that someone who accepts things as an opportunity or challenge can make a bigger difference than anyone could expect. If you want to have one example, Joey Moss fits the bill. He had a lot to teach people who wanted to learn. Everyone has the capability of teaching people something good. They have found a wonderful way to honour his memory and I for one am ecstatic about it, they are naming a kindergarten to Grade 9 School after him. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont.... If you ever wonder if one person can make a difference, or can one person make a huge impression, then obviously the answer is yes. Not everyone is Joey Moss, but everyone can work toward making the world around them a better place. He made an impression on a whole major Canadian city (Edmonton, AB) and across Canada and the hockey world in general. He made an impression to the point that they are going to name a school after him. He never gave up, he always showed up and he always did his best. His family is partially responsible for it as they allowed Joey to develop his own passion and his own career and didn’t tell him he couldn’t. He might have gotten the job because of Wayne Gretzky, but he kept it because he made it a spectacular career and did a great job of it. One person can change things if they just keep working at being themselves and doing the best they can. If everyone worked as hard at being a role model, we’d have a much better world. Yes, he was special. It’s wonderful to see that the world is starting to accept that special comes in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and ability levels. We no longer see special as being one type of person…this, in my humble opinion, is a change for the better. Making an impression on people takes being oneself and keep on trying and working while keeping enthusiasm for what you do.
It might sound easy to take things as a challenge or opportunity rather than a disaster, but it isn’t. No one can do this perfectly, but with practice one can reduce the negative outcomes. Another way to develop this skill is to think about a situation that didn’t really go as you would have wanted. Then practice how you would deal with the situation in future. Sales is a great example of where you get opportunities to practice skills daily. Say you lost a sale because of how you dealt with a customer. Well, this is something that colleagues might be able to help with. You could work out how you’d like to better deal with the situation in future. Find a way to say things so that you are honest in your approach, but diplomatic enough that you can give truth while still not alienating the customer. One example I could give is the approach to the cell phone from my last blog post. The one where they lost our confidence by telling us we bought a piece of crap. In future, they might approach it saying that I’m sorry, the cell is rather older for cell technology as it is changing so fast right now and the success rate of fixing it is really limited and it can be costly. Might I help you explore getting a new cell rather than fixing something that might not work? What price range are you interested in? You might still lose the sale, but it will not get a negative reaction from the customer. The other option might be to refer them to their service provider and hope for future sales to the customer for other things. Or once the cell isn’t fixed, they may come back…that one is tricky as you’d have to show some interest in serving the customer in future if the fix didn’t work.
Be realistically unrealistic and understand that you always have choices when it comes to how you react and act. It is very important in any career that you develop skills. No career or path is as easy as people working at it long term make it look. You can become better at any job over time and with experience. Many people focus simply on success rather than understanding that there are steps that have to be taken and success might not happen overnight. It might take time and continued efforts. It all depends on how people look at the situation. Is it an opportunity, challenge or a disaster? I know that I try to look at things either as an opportunity or a challenge. If I see there is something not working for me, then I look at what resources I need. It is important to look realistically at what resources I am willing to work with and decide which one will help me to make choices such as the current one of moving to another publishing company. I knew I was feeling stale. I haven’t gotten things back up and running, but I’m in process. I am still on Amazon and intend to stick with that avenue but am in process of moving over to another forum that will allow me a little more freedom for other formats. You can still find me on Amazon. I hope the next home for my e-books will give me the opportunities I need to grow and move forward. I manage my social networks so that I can be out there for people to see my work and get a taste of A & J PEI Treasures. I’m one of those behind the scene types. Not everyone likes being in front of the camera…some like being behind the scenes. It’s up to each individual to figure out what works for them.
Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures!
Our Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/sites/aandjpeit... and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures and also accessible through iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
My e-books can be found on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E.-Jean-Simpso...
Keep watching for more e-books and more formats! I’m always working on something!
The Big Kids Magical Path to Colours in Nature
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A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
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