I opened the Globe and Mail this morning to read that Mark Carney, Governor of The Bank of Canada, is imploring the banks to lend money. Isn’t that what banks do? Then I read about the “paradox of thrift” which means that while saving money is good for individuals, it’s bad for the economy when everyone saves at the same time because no-one is spending money. So do we save or do we spend? Then I read about Jim Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister, now predicting a significant slowdown when only a month ago, he was predicting that Canada would avoid a recession. How much has really happened in the past month? And how much of his flip flop reflects the perfect storm that is enveloping all of us? The answer is I don’t know? Neither does anyone I’m talking to. And I talk to a lot of people. It’s a strange new world, and it’s getting stranger.

Here’s what I believe: The velocity of change is driving us to change. We’re living inside a massive metamorphosis. We can feel its cataclysmic impact, but we can’t yet see it. We are like caterpillars in the chrysalis or foetuses in the womb. This is colossal. I’m frightened and I’m fascinated. I know that my role as a motivator-coach-alchemist has never been more vital. At the same, I know I have to change the way I play my role. I’m learning how to change day-by-day, conversation-by-conversation, person-by-person. There is no-one “out there” who has the answers. That much is screamingly clear. The answers are not “out there”. Whatever is going on “out there” is merely a guide to who we need to be and what we need to do, but the actual answers will be generated from within.

We are all living on the frontlines of life. We’re all experimenting our way forward. No-one has been to the future before. Our personal success will be a function of our Personal Code. That’s an inner system of values, principles, and insights that signal the right thoughts, feelings and actions in any situation. It’s a system that has been driving us since our earliest conscious moments. But we haven’t been aware of it. Or we haven’t paid it sufficient attention. Or we’ve relied on others to give us a system to live by. No more. Now we need to rediscover our Personal Code. We need to find new ways to master unprecedented changes. Check out http://www.mikelipkin.com/reinvent_yourself.html to help you reinvent yourself this festive season.