THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - THE NEED FOR A CHANGE TO A MORE PRODUCTIVE MINDSET

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 3, 2016

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

It is time to pause for breath.

The festive season, where most people leave all of their differences at the door for an all too short period of time and enjoy the festivities with family and friends without letting their everyday worries intrude on proceedings, has passed.

It’s not that anyone’s situation is any better or worse off than it was before those couple of weeks, it is just that there is, for the most part, a different mindset in place ... one that is more forgiving, more friendly, more open to positive influence and one which is more relaxed than usual.

Of course that can’t necessarily be sustained over a long period of time. We all have to get back to the cut and thrust of real world and the pressure that brings and our mood and focus sways accordingly, but the fact is that the Christmas and New Year mindset is there every year because it has been cultivated to be in place.

It is a habit that has been passed on from generation to generation and it works. Habits can be learnt ... good and bad ... and they come with a mindset that can be trained, so why would anybody or any industry who has a shaky 2015 fuelled by a dodgy mindset not want to adjust their thinking?

Racing in Queensland would be a prime example where a change of attitude could bring a huge benefit.

Of course that alone won’t carry the day. There are real issues that aren’t settled by a smile instead of a growl and there is a general landscape in which disharmony will not simply be erased by a friendly wave instead of a provocative gesture.

For all that though, if somehow racing participants could all come out of the stalls for 2016 with a mindset to more spend energy where it will be most productive, instead of getting old fighting old battles, solutions might not be as far away as it seems when all of those self-imposed complications are in play.

It will never happen, you say.

Given the form of the past, it would be difficult to argue against that view.

Egos and self-interest ... arguably not only from individuals but whole sectors of the industry ... have been two ever-present but unwanted factors.

Resentment, justified or not, from those stranded outside of the loop and the constant conflict that overall dynamic creates has been the bane of racing’s life in Queensland for so long it is as entrenched as a mindset as is the festive season fun.

The need for racing stakeholders, from the hierarchy to the battler, to change their habit / mindset / attitude is glaring.

I know trust has to grow. It can’t be manufactured between duelling parties overnight, but there needs to be a first step to change for racing to stop being its own worst enemy.

If everybody made a concerted effort to surround and attack racing’s problems from a different angle ... like say bringing a positive attitude to the game ... who knows where it might lead.

So, if you say that mindset change will never happen ... I say, then things will never truly get better.

What is there to lose?