"The Big Plunge" is boldly emblazoned on the front page today. Tumbling markets, volatile currencies, disarray in Europe, plunging consumer confidence in USA, global economic slowdown, shrinking fortunes in China, powerful earthquake in Central Asia, unpaid and homeless foreign workers in Singapore and rising phone rates ... these news dominate the first 27 pages of our papers today. Need I say more?
Still, avoiding the papers isn't the best way out. We need to know what's happening in order to confront our fears. The least we can do is prepare ourselves for the rocky road ahead. The business environment here isn't exactly bustling like before. We've curbed our spending at work and at home. I've started looking at ways to market our services to new sectors during the lull.
Sometimes we need times like this to give us a wake up call. For so long, I have been bobbing along with the tide, almost oblivious to the market environment. Now I feel a need to pull up my socks and upgrade myself again. Working independently, it is all too easy to fall into this trap of self complacency. There's no competition within our tiny organisation, nobody to push or motivate us.
Just when I was thinking of how and where I should start, I received an invitation to participate in the Women Leadership Forum in November. It's a full day symposium encouraging women to come together to discover in-depth the challenges of succeeding in today's society and what it takes.
This is God-sent! I registered without hesitation. I've always wanted to know what makes other women tick and how to hone my business skills and harness my potential. With many successful and influential women as key speakers, I know there's so much I can learn in one day. I'm really looking forward.
Amidst the gloom, there is still light. We should take this opportunity to take stock of our life and find ways to ride through the rough times. We will emerge a better person, in times of gloom or boom.
Picture courtesy of CH.
Meanwhile, hang in there folks, just like this cool kitty.
4 comments:
Good Times & Bad Times are times for learning for a person if one knows how to make use of them.
You are one tough independent one. Tell me more about this seminar. How much does it cost?
Hi WAter - You can find out more at www.iamwoman.sg.
Hope you can participate too!
I'm with your friend. I gave up reading the papers a long time ago. Nothing worth reading in there at all. It's all just gloom and doom ...
I totally agree with you, the news can be depressing! I know there's a big world out there and I don't wish to be ignorant, but sometimes I prefer my own little world!
However, I like the sound of the Women Leadership Forum. I look forward to hearing more about it.
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