The Employers' Association

The Employers’ Association (TEA) is a not-for-profit employers’ association, formed in 1939, with offices in Grand Rapids serving the West Michigan employer community. We help more than 600 member companies maximize employee productivity and minimize employer liability through human resources and management advice, training, survey data, and consulting services.

TEA is in the business of helping people. This blog is intended to address human issues, concerns and the things that impact people - be they self-perpetuated or externally imposed. Feel free to respond to the thoughts presented here, for without each other, we are nothing!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND


We often hear the phrase "draw a line in the sand" in regards to putting one thought or course of action to rest before moving on to another. The drawing of such a line, however, tends to emphasize the end of something old as much (if not more) than the beginning of something new.

In an ideal world of "what if" (rather than our reality of "what is") I'd prefer to think that drawing a line in the sand signals the beginning of something new, different and challenging - being the springboard towards a reality that exists but within your imagination - rather than as the end of something negative. The craftsmen shown in this vacation photograph are clearly drawing lines in the sand to transform a vision that could only be imagined into a reality for the rest of us to experience.

The next time YOU decide to draw a line in the sand, think more about where you are going...about what new reality can be experienced because of the actions you take...than where you've been or what you'd prefer not to repeat. The future is made up of dreams becoming reality, not of actions taken to avoid negative consequences.