The wisdom of children’s books

March 13, 2021

I was recently in a local gift shop with my wife and saw two children’s books by Kobi Yamada –

What do you do with an idea?

And

What do you do with a chance?

Yamada is an award winning author with several children’s books to his name. He also wrote What do you do with a problem?

As with most children’s books, Yamada took a lesson that we all can learn from and reduced it to the simple language and pictures that a child can understand.

I have written here several times about dealing with problems, so I won’t repeat myself on that (see this post ) ; however, the topics of dealing with ideas and chances (opportunities) is one that deserves some thought.

I did not read Yamada’s books while standing in the gift shop. I just opened to the first pages to see how they started. Both books started out the same way, with the child trying to get away from the idea or the chance – but it followed the child around and would not go away, just like the problems that Yamada also wrote about, I suspect.

Trying to avoid dealing with problems is easier to understand than trying to get away from ideas or chances; but all three reactions are based upon the same thing – fears. The fears that cause us to avoid the three situations are only slightly different across all three and have their base in our fear of failure. With problems we often cannot see any good solutions or we  imagine all sorts of bad outcomes. New ideas that pop into our heads also bring that same fear of failure because, well, they’re new – they represent the unknown and our imaginations tend towards bad outcomes when facing the unknown.

Chances (or opportunities), when we are given them always come with imagined outcomes that have both good and bad endings. Which do you think our imaginations often choose to focus upon? Perhaps that is something that separates successful people – they tend to focus upon the good outcome and work towards it. Successful athletes often use a visualization technique that helps them “see” the success that they desire.

Underlying the actions of successful people is the positive attitude of “I think I can”. They see the positive outcome, rather than being frozen by fears of the unknown (and unknowable). Keep in mind that every failure that you may have just means that you ran into one of those unknowns and now you know. You can do better next time because you know to avoid whatever it was that tripped you up – you will forge a different path to success. Persistence and perseverance are as important as perspiration in achieving success.

The key to success with all of these ‘What do you do with” questions is taking action and not to run away from them but to deal with them. What do you do with a problem? You solve it! What do you do with an idea? You implement it! What do you do with a chance? You take it!

So, maybe the Nike people have the most childlike and valid answer to all of the “What do I do with” questions in life – Just Do It!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Three little words – Choice, Chance, Change

February 10, 2015

“Choice, Chance, Change.  You must make the choice, to take the chance, if you want anything to change.”  (Unknown) – from the Jack’s Winning Words blog.

How often we dream of things we’d like to do, places we’d like to go or people that we’d like to meet; only to sit and watch those dreams evaporate because we don’t make the choice to the take the chances that are needed to make the dreams come true – to man daydreamingchange things. A dream without a plan to accomplish it is just an idol wish – a waste of the time that it took to dream it in the first place. Choice, Chance, Change.

Maybe you have a dream of a better job; but you can’t make the choice to take the chance, so nothing changes. That job is not likely to come looking for you and maybe it even requires some skills or education that you don’t have yet. The choice then might be to enroll in a community college or a businessmenregular college and take the chance of learning what you need to know to change your life so that you are equipped for that new job. Choice, Chance, Change.

Maybe your dream is to meet Mr./Ms. Right and have a lasting and meaningful relationship, perhaps even marriage. There are TV commercials for sites like Match.com that constantly ask why you have not signed up for their service; why you have not made the choice to take the chance that this site and their service will change you r life? Whether you believe in
handshakethose sites and services are not the real questions that they are asking you are about what overt actions you have taken or are willing to take to realize your dream. Choice, Chance, Change.

Many people have the desire to travel, or so they say; yet too many never get away. They claim that they are too busy with work or with family to be able to travel and see the things that they dream of seeing. Many say that they will travel when they get older; while the elderly often lament that they wish they had travels when they were younger and could still participate in the many activities that might be available (there are few geriatric para-sailers). Taking time off and getting away to relax and rejuvenate is an important aspect of our health and most people will never be in better financial positions than they are when they are younger and working. So why don’t we go? Choice, Chance, Change.

At some point in many people’s life they start thinking about less about themselves and more about others; what could they do to help someone else. Sometimes that is forced upon us as we assume caregiver roles; but, many times it is just because we have finallytutoring become at peace with our own life and started to see more of the need around us. Perhaps we have had some cathartic religious moment or maybe we just finally looked up from our own feet and noticed that not everyone has been as fortunate as we have been. Whatever the reason, many people eventually turn to philanthropy and service to others, no matter how small the gifts or efforts. Many look back as ask why they haven’t been dog this all along. Choice, Chance, Change.

So where are you with your dreams? Have you made the choices that you needed to and taken the chances that are required to make the changes that were necessary; or, are you still sitting there dreaming about things? If you at least make the choice to try, then you can at least move on to the planning stage. That will expose the risks (chances) that you must deal with and give you a road map of the changes that are rewardrequired.

An interesting by-product of getting started is that by making choices and taking chances it will change how people perceive you – you will become a doer and not just a watcher; you move from being a fan to being a player and that will make you a whole lot more interesting person to know. You will also find that you have a different and improved self-image. No more will “coulda, woulda, shoulda” define your life; but, rather, “been there, done that and now I’m movin’ on”, will be what you and others see. Choice, Chance, Change.

What’s your choice today?

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Posted by Norm Werner