There’s a time in everyone’s life where they’re forced to reassess things. It’s a rare person who doesn’t experience one of these long dark nights of the soul. It’s seldom an easy process. After all, who wants to really wonder about the possibility of a hopeless past or a hopeless future. 

But when one really sits down to think about life it can open a whole new realm of possibilities. There’s wide variety of options out there. And people have started to discover that building a whole new future is easier than they might imagine. Those dark nights of the soul are rough. But when handled correctly they’re a moment of reflection before a truly wonderful dawn. 

All of that might sound pleasant. But it probably sounds a bit like a platitude as well. If you’re like many people, you’re used to working in more concrete terms. And it’s also quite possible that this is true in a more literal sense. You might well make a living in construction. Whether that’s using concrete, steel or a combination of many different components. But the idea of a long dark night of the soul followed by a brighter future has a place there as well. 

For example, consider the history of China. Their long history seemed to be faltering. But in the past few decades they’ve reinvented themselves. They’ve learned to use new manufacturing techniques to make a new future. Or, in other cases, they’ve learned new ways to use already established techniques. And then there’s times when ideas sit between the two extremes. 

And this is exactly what people in today’s economy need to consider. People simply can’t get ahead these days by doing the exact same thing. Even something like a bolt shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s important to know exactly why it is that you’re using every single component of your work. And if it’s not living up to your needs than you need to carefully consider an upgrade. 

For example, many people aren’t really using the right bold for the job. And upgrading to a better option isn’t as difficult as people might assume. For example, some people might find that they get a huge benefit from moving to different types of shoulder bolts during manufacturing jobs. People often forget that there’s more to a shoulder bolt than a single designation. It’s not a single type of bolt. One should instead think of them as a full category of bolts. 

The only factor that the bolts need to have in common is an unthreaded shoulder that’s larger than the thread’s diameter. From that point on there’s a huge assortment of choices. Everything from coating to durability and material might differ on a case by case basis. 

But all this return to the central point. One can’t simply sit around wishing that change would drop from the sky. Change and improvement are always there. Both are the dawn of the new day. But one must take that first step and decide to improve his future.