Graham Price details his dream on how life could become amazing for everyone
Do you believe dreams can come true? Do you think it is possible for a young person to dream of meeting the perfect partner, falling in love and for that to become a reality? Is it possible to dream of reaching the peak of your profession and for that to become real? Is it possible to dream of becoming wealthy and for that to be realised? Of course, any of those dreams can come true. All three have happened to me. Without wishing to disillusion anyone, I can tell you that by far the least satisfying of the three was the last one. Despite vast numbers trying to become wealthy, from my experience, the novelty of the big house, pool and yacht wears off pretty quickly. All now sold and the money donated to more worthwhile causes.
A Bigger Dream
I now have a bigger dream. That it’s possible for life to become amazing for everyone. For this to happen, what changes do you think would need to occur? We’d certainly need a greater focus on removing hardship from the very substantial minority that currently experience it, whether through poverty, homelessness, conflict, oppression or poor health or mental health. There are easily enough resources in the world to achieve this. But for that to be realised, there’d need to be a change of mindset, among individuals, organisations and governments, away from pure self-interest to one that includes a significant component of contribution and co-operation.
Another likely requirement would be a greater focus on making life extraordinary.
You might like to think about what would need to change to make everyone’s working life, within your organisation, extraordinary. The goals of many employees tend to focus on their own success, promotions and pay rises. Nothing wrong with that, but to achieve an extraordinary working life for all, might there need to be a parallel focus on contribution? Might that involve an increased focus on supporting one’s team manager, other team members, subordinates, other staff, the organisation, customers and the community? How about regular meetings to discuss practical ideas of how to make everyone’s working life in one’s team or organisation extraordinary, or how to make the organisation’s appeal to its customers and the community extraordinary? I don’t just mean ‘better’. I mean ‘exceptional’, so employees and customers talk to others about it and remain loyal employees and customers.
What else might be needed to make everyone’s life amazing?
I suggest some training. In the world of psychology and personal development that I inhabit, there’s already a great deal of knowledge of how to create amazing lives. This primarily involves enabling more positive and productive ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. And it entails creating more powerful mindsets (including self-confidence, motivation, self-esteem and achievement), exceptional resilience (eliminating stress, regret, worry, blame, dissatisfaction and other limiting thoughts and feelings) and the skills to deal with challenges in relationships. Those three components (power, resilience and relationships), together with contribution, are recognised through my own experiences and the experience of thousands that I’ve been privileged to train, as being the key attributes needed for an amazing life.
What else could help to achieve my dream?
Might it be possible that working communities could take a greater interest in the welfare of employees outside work? Not everyone would welcome this, so it could be each person’s choice. But there are many for whom receiving help and support from their work community could be welcomed. There are already examples such as access to mental health advice in the workplace. This could be extended to employers giving employees access to a range of benefits. And it could include providing employees with the ‘work and life’ skills and ‘mindset change’ training I’ve already mentioned.
All the organisations I manage are non-profit, with all net income going to fund the project’s initial goals of creating a billion amazing lives and eliminating poverty, homelessness, mental health issues, oppression, conflict, crime and corruption from the world. All of these can be achieved through a universal change of mindset and a greater focus on contribution and co-operation. For a short time, that includes giving the life-changing ‘work and life’ skills and ‘mindset change’ training, that’s at the core of the project, free to Executive Assistants. Details are under ‘About the author’ below.
