A great question that has come to mind for me in successive months is - what if? 

I have pondered the reasons why certain things happen and why others apart from every controlled factor I put into place don't go according to plan? 

And then I ponder what if.....dot, dot, dot, or fill in the blank.....

I have to sit back and ponder this very remarkable question, why do certain things happen when everything I put into place and desired can only be factored into the sum of the human question, as well as the age old answers?

Last year I had a great deal of success in multiple venues, and then when things were working for me, individuals started to turn the tides of change in a way that makes the question come up?  What if?

Case in point, had I not had a new little one join my family what would have occurred today and subsequent months in choices I made and if one circumstance had been done just a little differently perhaps in the way I sourced something would the outcomes have been factors of greater opportunity?

Today this question is an amazing thought invoking giant staffing and life organizing premise, you get back what you put in.  Sometimes people tell me that I wasn't doing things right, or I didn't do it "their" way.  Alas, the powers that be see inward and God seems to be working momentous wonderful wizardry when all I want is to bang the obstacles to their knees and buckle the mountanous obnoxiousness that I have had my inward battles over.  What if - I had had a choice to go with a certain change but could choose where my part in the change would be?  This question is not realistic for change is like a bellweather it chooses it's own stakes.  And so I ask if my circumstances had just been a little different could I have been in a new realm across the way, and would success have come just a bit more than it has now?  I feel a strange answer in this particular question, as if fate and inward desire are just one part of the total "what if" scenario.

As I wax inward on this topic, I can't help but be frustrated at times, life is so full of opportunity, and I like anyone else try to take full advantage, but at times individuals put thier opinions on my path and just as another obstacle I must say with full purpose - sorry but I know what I want and you are not going to get in the way of it - buzz off bucko.

Perhaps not so harshly, but somehow reaffirm my commitment.  As I worked with differing individuals I found my direction over the years - my wife, my children, colleagues and others have been the forefront of success on many fronts - in others I have to try and strike a balance even when I disagree with what others goals are for me.  I speak collectively of course across the spectrum of channels of my life, but inwardly one must find that balance so richly desired in amazing places.

What if?  What If? What if?  What if I could firmly train myself to see every moment in life as a gift, even the annoying times - even the times that make me want to pull fistfulls of hair out.  Like when a certain change in a certain part of my career did not go in a manner of my choosing - but only to find that somehow even the most apparent ridiculous of circumstances bore strength and opportunity.

That is a great challenge I face sometimes - why did I not get to choose something or have opportunity to share in a certain choice or have the ability to make my business case as to why I should be in one place vs. another to the authorities that could make that change?  But I have those opportunities at times.  I wanted to be able to chart my course but in a different path at times - but even in a moment of asking "what if", I found an answer in "what potential have you." 

In a people business like staffing there are many variables, one can do everything right and still find challenges echoing their challenge.  Once again I find inspiration in the story of Danial and the giant Goliath, if one simple stone can make a giant fall, what if we had a boulder and hurled at our obstacles - the proverbial boulder is the strength of spirit that minimizes and knocks down the what if and turns it into - I DID.

There is enormous pressure in this world - but one thing stands the test of time - that is courage of conviction.  Conviction that somehow even challenges of monumental proportions can be made better.

I remember one of my favorite movies - Flyboys where courageous young men face a ruthless enemy, in their first battle the Escadrille fighters are overcome by their enemy and some almost give up, yet they fly, and fly, and fly again until they uncover their inward opportunity for greatness.  At the end of the story they overcome an ace who is one of their arch rivals and shoot down his plane and go on to save lives and make the incredible happen.

We all have our plane in the skies of life, we all have our moments when life throws a monkey wrench into every best laid plan.  The "what if" turns into "here it is".  That realization is there for the taking. 

I ponder what if on occassion but also find "here it is." Staffing is like finding a treasure - all it takes is determination and grit and commitment to inward focus goals - when you knock the obstacle back for all it's worth there is great meaning and dimension in that "end game."