A catalyst in its non chemical context is defined as  "a person or thing that precipitates an event".

In my experience change is a catalyst and its absence whilst perhaps creating a sense of a steady state existence is a in reality a relatively short term phenomena and even perhaps gives a false impression. 

Eventually everything changes in business and in life - jobs move on, children grow up - and when it does the art is to take advantage of the upheaval and not only to learn but to come out on top.

It is in reality hard to learn without change, difficult though that may be at the time. Indeed it is often only in these times of change that learning and true personal and business growth can occur.  We just need to appreciate that change is an opportunity and take advantage of its role as a catalyst for development. 

This last couple of weeks I have been trying to get a project approved and had to face various challenges including review by a committee I had never heard of.

The project which is not particularly novel and really a replacement for an existing one was at first instance rejected.

I found this very frustrating and complained to various people involved. However then I thought about it overnight and realised there was an alternative solution even if I never got past the committee. So then I could relax.

So the moral is "always have a plan B" - it makes life far less stressful. PS my project did get approved eventually.

Corporal Jones in the UK television series Dad's Army was infamous for shouting "Don't Panic" if anything went remotely wrong in a way that was more likely to engender panic. 

These were also the words on the cover of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy from the book by Douglas Adams designed presumably to stop users of the guide from overreacting as they explored the universe.

Both uses of the phrase were intended as anything but serious, However as we head into a New Year filled with its potential for excitement and challenges it occurs to me that this could actually be seen as good advice.

Rather like the test pilot who keeps calmly reporting back on the behaviour of his plane even as it disintegrates around him "Don't Panic" if rightly construed is good advice.

If you are extremely busy and are asked to take one one more task a natural reaction is the emotional one of how on earth can I do this. Help! Why me! However a calmer assessment will almost always find some way of managing the new task, for example, by delegating  it or by reprioritising other work.

So make "Don't Panic" in the  truer and more profound sense of its meaning a new year's resolution!