Merry Christmas 2013 from Mosen Consulting

It’s pretty scary how the years seem to speed up as you get older, don’t you think? Another year is nearly over, and for me, 2013 has been quite the wild ride.

New Zealand has a wonderful tradition of extended summer breaks at this time of year, giving many people the opportunity to recharge and reconnect with loved ones. I’m presently enjoying plenty of family time and long hot summer days. Cricket is on the radio, beer is in the fridge, and the most important people in my life are close by to enjoy it all with me.

As I said in another post on this blog a few weeks back, I’m even heading off to a part of the country where there’s no cell service and unplugging for a bit.

So from my family to yours, all the very best for the holiday season. My special thanks to all of you who have bought webinars and books, and who’ve had me help you with training or consultancy projects. It’s been a pleasure to be of help and I appreciate your business very much. I process orders manually, so if you place any, they may take a wee bit longer to be processed over the summer break.

Even if you’ve just read the blog, thanks for that too. There’s plenty of stuff you can read, so I’m grateful you’ve chosen to read these musings.

Finally, I’d like to send a special thanks to everyone who holds any kind of leadership position in the blind community, be it paid or unpaid. In the technology space alone, we have blind people making a difference through websites, podcasts, assistive technology companies, email lists and more. Thank you for daring to innovate, to make a difference, to get off the sidelines and try to make the world a better place. Criticism takes little skill, but leadership takes courage, tenacity, effort, and at least as much failure as success. Sometimes you’ll be criticised, because when you take decisive action of any kind, you’re never going to satisfy everyone, and you won’t always get it right. But about 20 years ago, I found a quote which I look at every day. It has become the quote that guides me, that inspires me when times are tough. So I conclude these holiday greetings by pasting it here, as a wee Christmas gift. I hope it inspires you, as it inspires me every day. It comes from Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”