Present Circumstances

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

Nido Qubein

“The butterfly effect is the idea that small, seemingly trivial events may ultimately result in something with much larger consequences – in other words, they have non-linear impacts on very complex systems.” That’s how the author of this Butterfly Effect article at How Stuff Works describes it. Edward Lorenz, a meteorology professor, came up with the term to describe how it’s virtually impossible to do long-term forecasting because there’s too many tiny variables that can alter the outcome over the course of time. Maybe that’s a frightening thought if applied to daily life. Or maybe it’s inspirational, that small positive actions can have profound effects.

About the author

Nido Qubein is a Lebanese American businessman and motivational speaker. He has been president of High Point University since 2005. He received his Associate’s degree in business from Mount Olive College, his bachelor degree in human relations from High Point University in 1970, and a Master of Science in business education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Bryan School of Business & Economics in 1973. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters in humanities degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Qubein is the founder and chairman emeritus of the National Speakers Association Foundation. He has served as chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company since 2001 and on the board of directors of BB&T (now Truist Financial) since 1990 and La-Z-Boy Corporation since 2006.