Change for the sake of change

To be honest, this soapbox is a bit of a tantrum as a few people have managed to press all my wrong buttons just as I was considering a topic to write about. So, an early apology if none of this applies to you and we shall see if this ends up like one of those posts that should have been written a day or two after the event.

Enter stage left:

“Oh woe is me! My phone hasn’t rung for the last two weeks and I have no work to put through the factory. It’s the end of the world.”

Exit through trap door to sound of thunder and appropriate lighting effects.

I could not believe it. This came from a sign-maker who obviously did not get the memo about PMA (positive mental attitude). He assumed that he was entitled to be a success because in his view he is good at what he does—his words not my conjecture. Obviously, he is not as good as he thinks if he has just sat there for the last two weeks and has given up already.

See what has happened here? Only two months into the new year and my karma has been kyboshed by an unprecedented amount of negativity and it is not just from one sign-maker. It seems to be de rigueur to moan at everyone else without offering a plausible solution.

This attitude of ‘entitlement’ is a bit of a bête noir with me. No one is ‘entitled’ to anything. Everything you get or receive is a result of the effort you put in. No overnight success happened as a lot of hard work went into it before it becomes a success.


In addition to having to work for a result, I have always felt that to get on in this world, saying please, thank you, and holding the door open for the person behind you are pre-requisites for an easier path in life and better returns for your efforts. Unfortunately, I am increasingly meeting people who lack basic manners—does it really hurt to say thank you when someone holds a door open for you? Or they cannot accept that their actions or inaction has consequences as what goes around. Sorry, off on a bit of a tangent there but it is I think relevant to the ‘me-me-me/I am entitled’ culture of today.

Blame game

If something is not going right for you, blaming someone or something else (Brexit in any shape or form is a current example) as your sole response is not going to be any help whatsoever. Sometimes you have to suck up the fact that the reality is that it never was perfect and never will be, but if we just sit and moan or point fingers, nothing will change.

Personally, I am fed up and no longer listen to the talking heads coming on the radio spouting doom and gloom, but never offering a viable option or even attempting to make a solid case that stacks up that they and their version will actually deliver a guaranteed better world. You simply have to deal with what is in front of you and make the most of it, unless of course you are a multi-millionaire when, if it goes wrong, just throwing some more money at it seems to work. In the main, we come out the other side unscathed, a lot wiser, and if we did it right, a bit richer.




I read somewhere that quite a few people are saying that 2016 was the worst year ever and that 2017 will be crueller. I beg to differ. For example, 1914-18 and 1939-45 might have been tough years for those caught up in two world wars and then there was the Black Death that raged across Europe between 1346-53 and wiped out an estimated 200m souls in the then known world. Sort of puts the claim for the ‘worst years ever’ of some ‘celebrities’ passing on and a change in the political dynamics of this country into perspective. And that is the crux—perspective.

Glass always half empty or half full? Get a grip and fill it up, and while you are about it, go get a bigger glass to fill. I have said many times before that we can only influence things we are in control of even if a lot of what we do has to be done in certain ways. For example, scuba divers roll backwards out of the boat into the water because if they rolled forwards they would just fall into the boat and look stupid. But surely there must be more than one way of getting out of the boat into the water. Not the best metaphor for saying try something new, but I liked the joke in my best ‘dad joke’ fashion.

We are not scuba divers or in a boat. We are in one of the most dynamic, everchanging, challenging, and diversifying industries on this planet. The vast majority of us never dreamt of a career in the sign industry, but here we are. There are suppliers and sign companies out there making a success and in the main, they do it by doing things differently and are not necessarily put off by failure or trying something new. What they do is to learn from every experience, good or bad, change what needs changing, sharpen what works well, and get on with it.

Life itself is a challenge and life is relatively short. Sitting on your hands, expecting entitlement, and talking yourself into a black hole is like trying to write with a broken pencil. Pointless. Oh, and saying thank you when I hold the door open for you will help.


Flounce over, normal service will be resumed.


Public Notice:

• No one is entitled to anything
• Success comes from hard work
• Blaming someone else will never help
• Those with success have tried new things

The British Sign and Graphics Association (BSGA) history dates back more than 70 years when a group of leading sign-makers formed the Master Sign Makers Association (MSMA) with the aim of promoting the sign industry and defending its interests. For more information on the issues discussed in this article visit www.bsga.co.uk or tel: 0845 338 3016



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