Sick and tired of all the shallow gossip and worthless drama the news has had to offer, I've found myself nose-deep in a lot of good books and online articles lately. One of my reads, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, has taught me that I need to be proactive as opposed to reactive. To be proactive is to take the situation you are given, and act in a postitive manner to achieve a goal. It's a sense of being instead of having. For example, instead of wishing you had a better job, you should be a better employee. Reactive people blame the outside world or current circumstances for their hardships, proactive people take what they are given and make the most of it. They bring the proverbial sugar to lemons of life...they are the lemonade-makers. I've been trying to wrap my head around this concept. It seems if I could actually make my self think proactively all the time, it would be impossible to feel defeated. Bliss.
So when I stumbled across another article, Top 10 highest Paying Degrees, I gave my proactive thinking a go. According to this article 7 of the top 10 highest paying degrees are in Engineering. The other three are Physics, Computer Science, and Applied Mathmatics. (read article here: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/08/22/10-highest-paying-degrees/) Seeing that I majored in the Fine Arts, these statistics do not bode well for me.
Now, a reactive person would think, "If only I had majored in Engineering, I would be better off," or "When I get that degree..." They would let this get them down, and accept the "fact" that they could never be successful. However, since I am now a proactive thinker, I will simply take what I've learned and sprinkle a little sugar on it. Since the top paid jobs are in engineering, I need to be an engineer. Boom. Done. I have changed my title from "Photographer" to "Image Engineer." Now, as an engineer, I have determined that I will be more successful. Time to watch the dollars roll in. Behold the power of postive thinking. ^_^
Seriously, though, instead of always wishing, needing, and expecting...what if we started being, encouraging, and living. What would happen? Maybe we could live our lives instead of being lived by our lives. Your circumstances do not define you. BE the SUGAR and your life will sweeten. :)
CHOOSE happiness.
Just a little positive mojo for you. LOVE you all!
Em
...back to the editing board...lots of beautiful images to engineer today!
Follow along to find out more about being an average gal in Arkansas who's taken a dream and made it a reality. I'm a wife, a mom, a daughter, a successful photographer, designer, and business-owner. It's not been easy, in fact sometimes it's straight-up tough, but everyday is a new opportunity to make a change. I'll keep you posted on all things eM as they unfold. Please join me! www.emilymcarthur.com
