It takes time…

We live in an ever increasingly instant gratification society, over the last decade we have had an exponential amount of loans, credit cards, by now pay later and other such financial carrots dangled at us as part of the “you can have it now” ethos that has taken over our world. Recently we have seen that this mentality has come crashing down around our shoulders and is fashionably referred to as the “Credit Crunch”.

When I was a child, it took time, hard work, effort and patience to make a house a home and fill it with the mod cons most home buyers expect today as standard. It took grit to afford to go on holiday and come back without owing a penny. Business took time to bed in and build so that it could be profitable and appreciated by it’s customers and suppliers instead of the set it up overnight and make a million in a philosophy that often privales in the modern board room.

What I have learnt in recent years goes against the modern norm… it takes time. It’s taken time for David and I to build Milestone and we know that it will take much more for it to be the sustainable business we want it to be. It’s taken time for us to appreciate that it “little by little” is far more powerful than “all in one go”. It takes time to build a positive reputation and it builds time for others to recognise it.

I sat proudly observing my husband today as he beamed because he was featured in “The Voice” Newspaper as one of the movers and shakers to watch in 2009. He has worked tirelessly with young people to raise their confidence and attainment levels and has networked constantly at the sacrifice of family time to build contacts who could help him gain access to the more lucrative corporate work that buoys up the work he does in education.  To see him featured was a real priviledge but not something that has come over night, it has taken time and it will take more to really get where we want to go.

There is a phrase in the bible that says “Let patience have her perfect work” and every day I am learning that this is exactly what I need to do. That with patience, endeavour and a giving spirit over time all things are possible.

So go ahead… take your time.

Thailand: He’s gone again

Well he’s gone again, David has found himself in Phuket, Thailand at the i-genius World Summit where he is speaking and facilitating and yet again I am let home with the babies!!! This does feel a little bit like de ja vous since last year he was swanning about at the TED Global Conference in Tanzania.

Yet again, he’s in a beautiful hotel, with amazing scenery and as he puts it “5 minutes from the beach and 2 minutes from the pool”.

I am really very proud of him David is an outstanding speaker. I can say that not because he’s my husband but because he is, he’ll tell you himself that I am his biggest critic and ruthless at that. But he really has that something and when he stands in front of an audience he tends to have them eating out of his hand.

Anyway enough of the….I’m off to start planning my world excursion for next year and he can stay home!!!!

Innocence lost on Sudan

She’s back! British Teacher Gillian Gibbons received a pardon form the Sudanese government and was allowed to leave Sudan yesterday. This the middle aged woman who decided to broaden her life experience and go on an adventure. She decided that life was just too short so she would give something back and have some fun in the process.

Being a creative primary school teacher she decided to allow the children of the class to vote to name a teddy. So being in a muslim country what did they name him?…. Mohammad!! In an instant innocence was lost in Sudan and on Sudan.

There is something to be said for understanding the culture that you plan to live and work in. Poor Gillian was completely out of her depth and instantly learn’t that religion in other countries is not taken as lightly as it is now here in the UK.

Sudan just didn’t seem to get it that this woman was not some sort of heretic insurgent wishing the brain wash their children out of Islam. She was just a Primary School teacher who got it wrong with out evening knowing it initially.

Our world has changed and is still changing, in order to live peaceably it is no longer enough to be peaceful, you have to know and understand the environment that you place yourself in and respect it’s customs no matter how alien or petty they may seem to you. Neither Gillian nor the Sudanese government really understood each other. It makes me wonder what and who I am taking for granted due to a lack of understanding.