Do you experiment with new attitudes and new behaviors? Do you
constantly try to improve your skills? Do you make your life an
"active science"? It is not hard to see what can happen when we
refuse to improve ourselves.
Do you know who set the standard for fine watch-making for most
of the 20th Century? If you answered, "The Swiss," you are
correct. Swiss wrist watches dominated world markets for at least
60 years and Swiss companies were committed to constant
refinement of their craft.
It was the Swiss who came forward with the minute hand and the
second hand. They led the world in discovering better ways to
manufacture the gears, bearings, and mainsprings of watches. They
even led the way in waterproofing techniques and self-winding
models. By 1968, the Swiss made 65 percent of all watches sold in
the world and laid claim to as much as 90 percent of the profits.
Now...which country sold the most wrist watches in the 1980s? The
answer is Japan. By 1980, Swiss companies had laid off thousands
of watch-makers and controlled less than 10 percent of the world
market. Their profit domination dropped to less than 20 percent.
Between 1979 and 1981, eighty percent of Swiss watchmakers
lost their jobs.
Why? The Swiss had refused to change the way they traditionally
designed watches and utilize the less expensive and more accurate
Quartz crystal. (Quartz movement, ironically, was invented by a
Swiss.) They did not seriously experiment with a radical new way
of designing timepieces.
Our lives are not so different. Without constant
experimentation -- daily growth and change to become the best we
can be -- our old attitudes, behaviors and skills will no longer
work for us. The old ways of thinking and doing will be about as
relevant as a grandfather clock on a space shuttle. We need to
experiment and improve. We need to turn our lives into an active
science.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do," wrote
Mark Twain. "So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe
harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." Make your life an experiment...and something wonderful
can happen!
From Lifesupport
Lifesigns Life Quotes
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