Motivation - Make good things happen

MOTIVATION – Make Good Things Happen


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – July 2009

I was chatting to a colleague the other day, who is going through some really big trouble.  Actually it’s a web of intrigue with doing business with family and not having contracts in place and there may be quite a few issues around non-compliance with Corporate Governance and all sorts of other things as well.  During the conversation she said to me that this is not the first time that this sort of thing has happened to her and that every time it knocks her to her knees she gets up with a ‘thicker skin’!

I asked her if she had not yet learnt her lesson and that perhaps the better (read easier) road to travel would be to do things differently (read the right way).  There was a moment of stunned silence as she digested what I had said and then she agreed.

Now, I have no idea if she will take her own advice or if she will continue down her particular path in life, but here’s what I do know.

You cannot help a drug addict or an alcoholic until such time as they admit that they have a problem and then once they have admitted that they have a problem THEY have to do something about it. Yes, we can be there for them and give them encouragement, but THEY have to make the changes themselves.

No matter what my intention, I have to act on something in order for something to happen.  Things don’t just happen by themselves, they happen because of something that someone has done!

We can live our lives as victims or survivors and personally, I choose to be a survivor – being a victim is just really hard work, emotionally.  In order for me to be a survivor I have to live my life in that manner.

We can live our lives as pessimists or optimists – I choose to be an optimist.  It makes my life ‘lighter’ and I get to see some really cool things like the beauty of the sunrise and the magnificence of a sunset.

We can live our lives sadly or with a sense of humour – I choose to live my life with a sense of humour, even if it means that often what I say goes right over the heads of the people that I am saying it to – it still brings a smile to my face.

We can live our lives allowing ‘bad things’ to happen to us on a continual basis or we can make good things happen in our lives.  I choose to make good things happen in my life.

Remember though we have to MAKE it happen and we do that by the actions that we perform, whether it is by a decision that we make and how we act on that decision or by taking up one of the many opportunities that constantly knock on our doors.

Making things happen is my choice today, what’s yours?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za