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Here in Southeast Michigan, we have been hard hit, for a prolonged period of time, in our real estate market and our regional economy.  The new year brings a new governor to our state, a new look on life, but the same problems maintain.  What does this next year hold for us?  Your guess is as good as mine, frankly.

I simply know that I refuse to be caught up in the negativity and shoe gazing that seems to permeate our region.  There are notable pockets of exception to this generality, but overall, it feels as though folks are looking for something bigger than themselves to swing into action and make things better.

Guess what?  That is not going to happen.  If something is to change for the better in your own life in 2011, you will be the one that initiates that change.  Not someone else.  YOU.

One way that I have found to maintain a “silver-lining” outlook on the everyday has been to read.  Voraciously.

2010 was a great year for me to read books on how the old ways of business have crumbled and a “new” way is re-emerging.  I was grateful to be able to devour Trust Agents from Chris Brogan, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, Start With Why by Simon Sinek, and Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  Top notch insight from folks out there “doing it,” or looking to see how the old ways simply do not cut it anymore.

But there’s something missing from everyone of these excellent books.

Surviving Your Serengeti

Crushing your business by being a trust agent on your way to your business’ tipping point may happen in a blink, but you will definitely be an outlier.  To be that outlier, do you know what your predominant skill set is in life?

Often, nature provides powerful examples of life simply persevering and enduring.  Stefan Swanepoel, a noted author and speaker brings us a book that uses a safari on the Serengeti as a stage to show how the traits of seven animals are reflected in our lives.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of Surviving Your Serengeti recently. Upon reading Stefan’s fable of a safari on the Serengeti, drawn from his personal experience, I find myself itching to get to the Serengeti to see these animals and their traits first hand.  Stefan paints a vivid picture of each animal, their traits and how these traits are reflected in how we go about our lives.  It is these traits that we will recognize in ourselves and see as our predominant form of enduring and persevering.

You can find out which predominant animal’s traits you have by taking the “What Animal Am I?” quiz.

Me?  I’m a Graceful Giraffe:

The giraffe symbolizes the broad meaning of the word “grace”. While some see grace in human terms as one’s elegance or charm, for others it’s divine in origin and represents that indispensable gift for the development, improvement and expansion of one’s character and the ability to rise above the negative events of time.

What animal are you?

[Update 1/28/11: Stefan was gracious enough to post this Graceful Giraffe's video review of Surviving Your Serengeti on the book's website! Check it out!]