More Than Just A Number: The challenge to Be instead of Do

More Than Just A Number

The challenge to Be instead of Do

Carrie Foster

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More Than Just A Number: The challenge to Be instead of Do

Carrie Foster

Copyright 2013 Carrie Foster

Published by Twin Wicks Publishing at Smashwords

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. this ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. if you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. if you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, the please return to Samshwords.com and purchase your own copy. thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

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Contents Page

Introduction - It’s Time to Reclaim our Right to be a Human Being

Chapter 1 - Putting People First

Chapter 2 - 2 + 2 = 5

Chapter 3 - A Name not a Number

Chapter 4 - Why You Matter

Chapter 5 - Being Rather Than Doing

Chapter 6 - Being Rather Than Doing Will Make You Happy

Chapter 7 - Do the Important Stuff First

Chapter 8 - What You Are and What You Are Not

Chapter 9 - Challenge, Question, Be Curious

Chapter 10 - Make Yourself Heard

Chapter 11 - Dream Big

Chapter 12 - Don’t be Afraid

Chapter 13 - Choose the Right Attitude and you can find the Right Aptitude

Chapter 14 - If at First You Don’t Succeed

Chapter 15 - Surfing the Edge of Chaos

Conclusion - Are You Ready for an Encounter?

Bibliography

About the Author

Coming Soon

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Introduction

It’s Time to Reclaim our Right to be a Human Being

The strongest force in the universe is a human being living consistently with his identity. - Tony Robbins

In a technologically driven global economy everything is digitalised. Hundreds of thousands of gigabytes of data are reduced to a series of 0 and 1 sequences and transferred across the Internet every second of every day.

This revolution has occurred quickly, as all things do, and we are more connected and networked than ever before. Putting faces to names is no longer a problem. We can Google anyone and chances are, in a half hour or so with only a name and titbits of information, we are likely to find a picture of anyone, a detailed profile and numerous thoughts and ideas that they have shared with the world.

There are many things about the world we live in that are good and provide exciting opportunities, but there are also many things that bring darkness and reduce our humanity.

In our lifetime we become used to being attributed numbers. Social security number, employee number, driver’s licence number, passport number, bank account number; in the UK we have NHS numbers, NI numbers, council tax references and every item or service that you buy is attributed a contract number. We end up with so many numbers it is impossible to keep them all in our heads, so whenever we ring up a service we have to have the number to hand because they can’t find ‘us’ if we don’t have a number.

The systems we have to navigate to organise our lives throw up many ridiculous scenarios. I have been in a bank where a regular customer, who the counter staff knew by name, couldn’t draw money out of her account because she didn’t have her card, or her account number. The staff couldn’t provide her with the account number because she didn’t have proof of who she was. Or take the example of my husband who received a phone call from a service provider to his mobile phone, but because he ‘failed’ the security question and didn’t have his account number to hand they couldn’t discuss his account with him, even though they were the ones who rang him.

The real tragedy in all of this is that we have allowed ourselves to be stripped of who we are. Is it any wonder that mental health problems are on the increase when individuals are faced with a world where no one connects with them on a human level but rather on a data level? We tag ourselves with labels I am a [job title/race/gender/sexual orientation etc] but in the midst of all this labelling, tagging and numbering we forget who we really are.

We have stopped thinking about how unique and wonderful we are, we lose track of the talent we have and allow ourselves to be shuttled into doing a job we hate, for money that we can barely survive on and we call ourselves successful if we have money at the end of the month, even if we no longer know why we are doing what we are