- Personal Effectiveness Tips
This month's Personal Effectiveness tips focus on the concept of personal and professional growth.
Particularly important to growth in both areas is the idea of centering your life around feeling uncomfortable. What does that mean? It means that, in order to fully commit yourself to change, you must first become uncomfortable. In sports, this means pushing yourself through the initial pain of running further than usual, lifting more than usual, training longer than usual. In business, this may mean listening to others more, delegating responsibility more (as scary as that may be to some!), or taking a risk in an area in which you have stagnated. In relationships it means making a decision to either commit fully or leave the relationship.
Human performance follows a simple learning curve. We learn, we plateau, we get uncomfortable, and the cycle begins anew. No matter the arena (business, sport, personal), the sequence remains the same. Thus, to accelerate change, limit the time you spend in the plateau phase. Accelerate quickly towards becoming uncomfortable (or, scared, bored, fearful, anxious, curious, irritated: The words are similar and the behavioral changes that follow taking action to change are profound) in order to move more quickly towards new learning and better challenges. Most people spend far too much time in the plateau stage, and not enough time using discomfort as a signal to change.
How can you use this knowledge in your life? By seeking discomfort, even on a small level, on a daily basis. Expand your social circle. Buy a non-fiction book if you always buy fiction. Make a public resolution (the bigger the audience, the more likely you are to follow through). Employ a new coaching strategy. Call someone you've been thinking about but were afraid to approach. Ask your employees for suggestions on how you can be a better boss. The more you do this, the more you will change for the better.
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- Questions for Growth
- What have you done this month to better the life of at least one individual?
- What is the biggest risk you have taken in the last month in each of these areas: personal relationships, business relationships, and family relationships
- What is your most-frequently used excuse (to explain why you are not living the life you truly desire)? What would happen if you completely eliminated the excuse from your everyday life?
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- Reality Check
February's reality check surrounds excuses. Excuses can become the biggest obstacles we face, particularly on a daily basis. In my own life, I now realize that I have carried many excuses around with me all these years. Currently, I know that the fewer excuses I allow myself to use, the more productive and less anxious I am. It's an amazingly simple concept to comprehend but somewhat more difficult of a principle to enact in our lives.
The key is to eliminate as many excuses as you can for not living an exciting life. The more you reduce your rationalizations, explanations, sob stories, and overall excuses, the more grounded in reality you will be. You will realize that your life is your responsibility, and that even though bad things happen (and they do, obviously), these events do not control us. It is what we tell ourselves about what happens to us that really matters.
Again, seek to dramatically reduce or eliminate (if possible) excuses from your life. You'll find that you have been hiding behind these excuses for years, afraid to fully apply yourself towards your personal and professional goals. This is an extremely powerful way to induce growth in any area of your life. To supercharge your efforts in this area, enlist the help of close friends-those friends who will tell you the truth, even when it's ugly. Eventually, you will come to the conclusion that excuses serve absolutely no purpose in your life (at least in a positive sense). Then you can move forward with open eyes.
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