With the current times, each of us needs to understand the magnitude of social and economic change in the world. In the past, change in business and social life was incremental and a set of personal strategies for achieving excellence was not required. Today, in the knowledge-based world, where change is the rule, a set of personal strategies is essential for success, even survival. Never again will you be able to go to your place of business on autopilot, comfortable and secure that the organization, state or government will provide for and look after you. You must look in the mirror when you ask who is responsible for your success or failure. You must become a lifelong learner and leader, for to be a follower is to fall hopelessly behind the pace of progress. The power brokers in the new global arena will be the knowledge facilitators. Ignorance will be even more the tyrant and enslaver than in the past. As you look in the mirror to see the 21st Century you, there will also be another image standing beside you. It is your competition. Your competition, from now on, will be a hungry immigrant with a wireless, hand-held, digital assistant. Hungry for food, hungry for a home, for a new car, for security, for a college education. Hungry for knowledge. Smart, quick thinking, skilled and willing to do anything necessary to be competitive in the world marketplace. Working long hours and Saturdays, staying open later, serving customers better and more cheerfully. To be a player in the 21st Century you have to be willing to give more in service than you receive in payment.

These are the new rules in the game of life. These are the actions you must take to be a leader and a winner in your personal and professional life. By mastering these profoundly simple action steps, you will be positioned to be a change master in the new century.

Action Step Number One - Consider Yourself Self-Employed, But Be a Team Player. What this means is that you are your own Chief Executive Officer of your future. Start thinking of yourself as a service company with a single employee. You're a small company that puts your services to work for a larger company. Tomorrow you may sell those services to a different organization, but that doesn't mean you're any less loyal to your current employer. Taking responsibility for yourself in this way does mean that you never equate your personal long-term interests with your employer's.

The first idea is resolving not to suffer the fate of those who lost their jobs and found their skills were obsolete. The second is to begin immediately the process of protecting yourself against that possibility - by becoming proactive instead of reactive.

Ask yourself these questions:

How vulnerable am I? What trends must I watch? What information must I gain? What knowledge do I lack?

Again, think of yourself as a company. Set up a training department in your mind and make certain your top employee is updating his or her skills. Make sure you have your own private pension plan, knowing that you are responsible for your own financial security.

Entrusting the government or an employer, other than yourself, with your retirement income is like hiring a compulsive gambler as your accountant.

You're the CEO of your daily life who must have the vision to set your goals and allocate your resources. The mindset of being responsible for your own future used to be crucial only to the self-employed, but it has become essential for us all. Today's typical employees are no longer one-career people. Most will have five separate careers in their lifetimes. Remember, your competition is a hungry immigrant with a laptop. Action Step Number One is to consider yourself to be self-employed, but be a team player.

Action Step Number Two - Be Flexible in the Face of Daily Surprises. We live in a time-starved, overstressed, violent society. Much of our over-reaction to what happens to us every day is a result of our self-indulgent value system, where we blame others for our problems, look to organizations or the government for our solutions, thirst for immediate sensual gratification and believe we should have privileges without responsibilities. This condition is manifested in the high crime rate and in the increase in violence in the work place where employees blame their managers for threatening their security.

I have learned how to be flexible in the face of daily surprises, which is one of the most important action traits for a leader. I really haven't been angry for about 17 years. During that time, no one has tried to physically harm me or someone close to me. I've learned to adapt to stress in life and reserve my fear or anger for imminently physically dangerous situations. I rarely, if ever, get upset with what people say, do or don't do, even if it inconveniences me. I do react emotionally when I see someone physically or emotionally abusing or victimizing another. But I've learned not to sweat the small stuff.

The Serenity Prayer, "Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference," is a valuable measuring tool we can apply to our lives. Simple yet profound words to live by.

Now's the time you should hear this! For very good reason!
Now, please don't ask why. It's not simply the season.
Sooner or later the Grinch will invite you
To give up your life's goal as something you can't do.

It could be his head isn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his pants are too tight.
But I think the most likely reason of all
Is that his heart is too cold and his vision too small.

The Grinch is a dream stealer of many disguises.
A friend or relation with depressing surprises.
Just when you feel that your business is booming
He fills you with thoughts that are glooming and dooming.
He whispers about the forthcoming disaster
And about the new plan where you'll get rich much faster

When you say you look forward to earning a million.
He'll scoff and retort: "Not one chance in a billion!"
With a stock market rising and confidence strong
You'd think he'd get real and start going along.
But he howls and he growls with his terrible frown
"Whatever goes up, has got to come down!"

Sometimes the Grinch is quick to appear.
Sometimes he shows up year after year.
But whatever your "Why" and no matter "Who"
The dream stealer, Grinch, will start hitting on You.
He's the fear deep inside that insists you can't sell.
He's the voice that says, "Stop! Things are going too well!"

He especially hates Christmas and the spirit of giving
For he selfishly thinks that by "getting" you're living.
He thinks passionate service is too big a "Why"
And that money's the only incentive to try.
But he's missing the point, and hasn't a clue 
That every Who out in Who-ville has a Dream to come true.

Sooner or later all dream stealers find
That they're out in the cold and left far behind.
What they could have or might have or should have possessed
Has now passed them by and left them depressed.

As you sit by the fire and plan the new year
Surrounded by family and friends of good cheer.
Remember the Grinch, with his feet in the snow."
Standing puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas... Perhaps... means a little bit more!"
It's a spirit to treasure each day and each night
It's the reason the American dream is still burning bright
It's a mission of hope you can trust and believe
"The more that you give, the more you'll receive!"

This week during the Holidays, look for ways to give more!

One of the most desirable attitudes of a leader is an ability to view problems as opportunities and setbacks as temporary inconveniences. This positive attitude also welcomes change as friendly and is not upset by surprises, even negative ones. How we approach challenges and problems is a crucial aspect of our decision-making process, whether in business or in our personal lives. In companies and environments in which criticism, pessimism, cynicism, and motivation by fear prevail, an attitude develops that leads to avoiding failure at all costs. The trouble with failure avoidance is that it's simultaneously avoidance of success, which depends on big risks.

Innovation and creativity are impossible when people are in fear of being penalized for failure.

Early experience often teaches that failure is to be avoided at all costs. This begins in childhood, when we encounter the first "No!!" It grows like a weed when we are criticized by our parents, other family members, our teachers, and our peers. It leads to associating ourselves with our mistakes, and to a self-image of clumsiness and awkwardness. Not wanting to be criticized or rejected, many adults also seek security rather than risk looking foolish or appearing awkward. They quietly ride with the system, not rocking the boat.

All lasting success in life is laced with problems and misfortunes which require creativity and innovation. Winners turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

In the 1920s, when Ernest Hemingway was working hard to perfect his craft, he lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts. The devastated Hemingway couldn't conceive of re-doing his work. He could think only of the months he'd devoted to his arduous writing--and for nothing, he was now convinced.

But when he lamented his loss to poet Ezra Pound, Pound called it a stroke of luck. Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts and only the best material would reappear. Instead of framing the event in disappointment, Pound cast it in the light of opportunity. Hemingway did rewrite the stories, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This week, concentrate on framing your challenges as "opportunities to grow" rather than "disappointments and problems."