Tough times call for powerful, though surprising, tools for success -- service to others, renewed respect for inner beauty, a commitment to balancing work and play plus a whopping dose of endurance, says Suzanne Black. And the biggest surprise – restraint from work overkill.
The popular speaker, financial services veteran and Realtor shared thoughts on surviving trying times when she addressed a larger-than-usual weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Southeast Nassau at East Villa January 21. It was one day after a single-term senator named Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States and change, she said, was on everyone’s minds. While decision-makers focus on change to ensure national and financial survival, individuals must use times like these to re-focus on what’s important personally.
"In this country, for the most part, we have had good and prosperous times. Those who have been diligent and enterprising have done well. But for many, today’s challenges present almost overwhelming odds," said Ms. Black. "Many people are frightened – loss of jobs, scarcity of investors, fall-off in tourists visiting our shores. All of these impact how we view our world and how we view ourselves. How, then, can we weather these stormy seas of change, keeping our courage ahead of our concerns?"
Her answer was three-fold, starting with striking a balance between "work, family and friends, our spiritual side and time to ourselves. We need to take care that we do not take advantage of ourselves by becoming all work and no anything else. Over-working is a form of self-exploitation and it is when we self-exploit that we may self-abandon. When we self-abandon, we may find ourselves waking up one day and asking ourselves who we are."
If the approach of not succumbing to self-imposed slavery to work to survive seems contrary to the popular vein, Ms. Black says maintaining a balance helped her fight cancer, not once but twice, and emerge stronger than ever.
Although she warns against work overkill, she says rough seas may mean digging deeper to do well at what you do best.
"If we are in retail, it may mean more time spent listening to staff concerns. In the hotel industry, it may mean more hands-on management. In real estate, it may mean more calls to past clients and more efforts to develop new clients," said Ms. Black, who has received numerous awards and honours, most recently an honorary doctorate from Sojourner-Douglass College.
"Look to others for positive examples and guidance," she suggested. "I find that when I help others, it helps me to feel better about my life." Feel good about yourself, admire your inner beauty, she advised. "Eleanor Roosevelt once said ‘No one can make us feel inferior without our permission.’ No one gets it all right, hopefully we get it more right than wrong. But if you ratchet up the strengths of what got you where you are without losing sight of the need to maintain balance, you will not only survive. You will thrive.
"As we journey through life, remember that we hold the key. Let us strive to give the best that we are and the best that we have to as many people as possible along the way."
- Austin DWI - New York DWI