There are lots of challenges in business and life. Maybe even more now because of the pandemic.

But perhaps the biggest problem of all is this: taking ourselves too seriously.

We may not have everything the way ‘we want’ right now but if we step back and look with fresh eyes, we have a lot that’s right. Our family puppy has reminded me to keep that point in perspective.

I wasn’t in the good books with TLJ (The Lovely Judy) or the kids over the weekend.

Our house alarm has been broken for several weeks and as a result, we had fallen out of the habit of setting it every night. But it was fixed recently and I decided on Saturday night to set it.

I’m usually the first up in our home, and because of the lack of habit, I walked into the kitchen without dis-arming the alarm.

The reality is that no-one can control how things unfold. And certainly, it seems that the entire world is getting a lesson in this right now.

Things going wrong is another way of saying “I don’t like this”. And because we feel what we think, that is the start of how stress and misery is caused. But, while we can’t control how the world unfolds, we can control our response to it.

I’m lucky in that I’m a fan and practitioner of acting, a love I inherited from my mother. One of my earliest memories as a child is sitting in a theatre hall in Kilkenny, watching her and her fellow actors rehearse their upcoming shows.

6 years ago my mother, Mary, asked myself and my siblings to come to the family home in Kilkenny, without our families.

My father had been ill and had recently endured several operations, so we feared the worst.

When we arrived, they told us that Dad (Jim), had been told to get his affairs in order because he only had a few weeks to live. As you can imagine, that was a very emotional weekend. And the following weeks were challenging as we waited.

Circumstances don’t have to define us. It’s how we respond to circumstances that matters.

This year, you may have had to divert off the road you thought was the best one. You may even be going down a road you never knew existed.

Just remember, that if you really want to get somewhere, there’s always a way.

The key is to never stop believing and to keep taking steps.

– even if means going slowly.

I’ve had so many conversations over the last few months with smart people who have created serious and unnecessary suffering for themselves.

Unnecessary because it came down to a lack of understanding how we all work from the inside out.

In the past, I’ve created problems for myself that just weren’t real because I never stopped to explore if what I was thinking was reality…

And I’ve seen the same with clients over the years.

My wife was telling me she’d heard a renowned psychologist, Dr.Edith Eger, talking on the radio last week.

She was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp during the holocaust and had endured severe traumas over her life.

But she had built a successful career as a therapist, speaker and writer in the US, around helping others overcome trauma and making the most of their lives.

A few years ago, this accomplished business woman was in my office and she was hugely de-motivated because of the behaviour of her CEO.

They had, in their mind, behaved in a way that was against her values, and the way she liked to treat people.

As she explained her point of view, it did seem like she had a point.

And now she was questioning whether the business was the place for her future.

But that wasn’t the main problem.

Over the last week, I found myself doing some painting outside and for one section I had to clear away some cobwebs before beginning the work.

I didn’t give it any thought until the next day when I was walking by the same section and noticed that the beginnings of a small cobweb was in the very place I’d cleaned.

It made me reflect that nature truly is adaptive.

I took a week off at the start of July and for the first 3 days I couldn’t get over how much I slept. And it didn’t seem like I had a choice in the matter.

My body just needed rest.

And since then, most of the leaders I’ve spoken with have shared with me that their energy levels have been quite erratic and many of them have been more tired than normal.

I think it’s very understandable.