How to Kick Start Your Personal Growth!
Long before I knew it would be a part of my life to write books, I spent hours reading them.
I still remember my joy in discovering at a yard sale a much-thumbed but beautifully illustrated copy of old fables.
In particular, I always remember the story of The Scorpion and the Frog.
In it, a scorpion asks a frog to transport it across a river. The frog is hesitant, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion promises that won’t happen, because if it did, they would both drown.
The frog sees the apparent logic in this and agrees.
But midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog, and they are both doomed.
With his dying breath, the frog asks the scorpion why he stung him.
The scorpion replies that the frog knew it was in the scorpion’s nature to do so, because that’s what scorpions do.
It took me a very long time in life to realize that as human beings, we are not scorpions. We cannot justify our bad actions by claiming it is our nature to behave that way.
In the same vein, we cannot excuse our lack of fulfillment and productive work by proclaiming it is our nature to be lazy or our providence to be less than we want to be.
We have room to grow
We are not planted like seeds in the earth and predetermined that we will emerge just one kind of flower.
Instead, we have the power to grow any way we want to and invent our own identities. We are shaped by our culture, our geography, our schools and our communities, but we have the ability to transform that shape or to change it.
All we need is the soil of new ideas, the nourishment of skills, education and training, and we will emerge as something different and unique and something quite extraordinary.
How do we kick-start our growth?
Start by letting go of your fears and loosening your hold on engrained ideas.
Them move out of your normal realm and start exploring. It could be as simple as reading a new author, watching a movie, visiting an art exhibit or taking a webinar.
Read or watch the news, travel to a new community and talk with people.
Re-examine your role at work
Since work commands such a major part of your life, re-examine your approach to it.
Do you see your work as a kind of jail where you must put in your time to sustain yourself? Or it your work a source of fulfillment in your life that gives you mental and emotional riches?
Reading Barry Schwartz, author of Why We Work (http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-We-Work/Barry-Schwartz/TED-Books/9781476784861), helped me kick-start my own businesses because I realized how important it was to care about what I was doing in life.
“Work is more often a source of frustration than one of fulfillment for nearly 90 percent of the world’s workers,” he wrote.
“Think of the social, emotional, and perhaps even economic waste that this statistic represents. Ninety percent of adults spend half their waking lives doing things they would rather not be doing at places they would rather not be.”
That is a sobering thought indeed. We all need to find something to do on this planet that gives us a sense of fulfillment and joy. My search for that (and I was happy to find it) led me to diversify my business and grow more fully into what I wanted to do.
If you feel trapped in your work or life situation, seek your inspiration and then plant the seeds of change.
Paula Morand, CSP is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and bold impact. 23 years, 25,000 clients, 19 countries, 11 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
To check out Paula’s book, “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything” go to Amazon http://ow.ly/i8yW307ix67
Speaking inquiries email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317