Let there be Light...

I was an odd child - so I was told...

Moving from the city of Birmingham, UK to a small rural mining village in the 1970s was a shock to the system...

First, I had a different accent to the locals, which endeared me to them as you can imagine. My teacher at school was a staunch Socialist Worker supporter, so with my dad having his own business, let's just say I wasn't his favourite pupil...

So, I became solitary avoiding the bullying and sarcasm, I turned to books, cycling, and football.

Being a small village, there was no library, and whilst late in my early teens, I would cycle the 15 miles from home to the Birmingham Central Library - now thankfully demolished and replaced with The Library of Birmingham on Broad St - until then I had to make do with the weekly Library Van that showed up in the pub car park every Thursday...

So I asked my mom to order me a copy of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity - mainly just to be awkward and to prove my oddness to the world...

Anyway, the General Theory is brilliant - I had no idea what it all meant but it did make me feel all smug and worthy telling the Socialists Worker teacher that, whilst he was pushing boring textbooks - I was in fact researching with Einstein...

It is only with the benefit of hindsight I can see why the word precocious was applied to many of my reports...

I also discovered a quote by my newfound friend and mentor, one I would spout off in science class, and indeed whenever the opportunity for a smug contribution presented itself, much to the "delight" of Trotsky at the front of the room...

Darkness is merely the absence of light...

Which had the effect of triggering the rolling of eyes and much shaking of heads...

It is only in later years I have come to recognise the power of this simple sentence.

I have found this to be true in life, career, and business - dark times, situations, and periods come along in everyone's life, but the darkness is temporary, light, however, is permanent...

Imagine being sat in a darkened room with the doors and shutters closed whilst outside the sun is shining...

When a door or shutter is opened, the darkness doesn't flood out into the light - the light always displaces the dark.

The challenge for many of us isn't that the light floods in- it's opening the doors and shutters to allow it to...

Too many people live in a state of fear, unhappiness, or pain - not because they don't know there is a better outcome available to them, rather they keep the doors and shutters locked tight...

Darkness is a false state - the Sun always shines, it's only dark at night because the Earth rotates and hides it from us...

Light is energy, Darkness is simply the absence of energy. Energy is everywhere unless we choose to stay in the shadows, create the shadows, or keep those shutters locked.

So if you feel the shadows creeping into your life, work or relationships - know it is only temporary, the light hasn't gone away, it may just be shielded from you.

Make the decision to open the shutters, make a move, decide to change start a relationship or end a relationship - but make sure you step into the light...

David Holland MBA - The Business Co-Pilot - is a Business Coach living in France with offices in Luxembourg and the UK...

Results Rules OK is a family firm, with his wife Lynn and eldest son Jon working in the team too...

Working with Business Owners who want to grow their business and lifestyles has been a passion of David's for approaching 20 years - and with clients in 37 countries in a variety of sectors, makes him one of the top people in the business.

So if you'd like to find out more about the work he does and the programs he runs, drop him a note to - [email protected] to arrange a time to speak...