© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• There is nothing permanent except change. Heraclitus (535–475 B.C.)

Things change. Mighty empires rise and fall. Solid corporations that were once national institutions bite the dust. Whole professions dry up. Yet new opportunities constantly arise. What change brings is always unpredictable, but change itself is highly predictable. It will happen.

You won't always be ready for change, even if you keep your mind open to it. Change can really throw you. It can surprise you and foil all your plans. If it didn't have this capability, if it were predictable, it wouldn't really be change at all. But part of Building Yourself involves the ability to react to and anticipate change. The winner factors change into the equation of life.

There are three major areas where you can make progress despite or in cooperation with change:

• First, you can minimize the damage of unexpected change by respecting the phenomenon. Change is reality and no wishful thinking will ever turn it back. Yes, you may have to change your plans, scale back goals and re-tool to move in a different direction. Yes, you may have wasted time, effort and money. But don't waste further resources by feeling sorry for yourself. Other people are facing job extinction, corporate down-sizing and rocky career roads also.

• The second area is a positive one. Change brings opportunities. If you keep your mind clear, if you're rigorous in keeping out wishful thinking and feeling sorry for yourself, you'll be able to jump onto change and ride it to new heights. Nearly every opportunity in life is brought on by some kind of change. There's opportunity if you look for it. Look for it.

• Area three involves factoring change into your planning. Every plan has critical points that assume things will continue as they are. At these points, the smart planner factors in the possibility of changing circumstances: either positive or negative. We know life isn't a picnic, but planning life is a bit like planning a picnic. If you're planning a picnic for an organization or large group, you usually set a rain date. In life, you'll anticipate critical turning points to stop and think. You'll reassess your situation in the light of change. Are the opportunities you first perceived still viable? Even if they are, have other opportunities become better bets?