The Desert of Arizona
Cloudy 62 Degrees – 6:16 a.m.
I remember times in the past when clients were asking me to do things I knew I didn’t want to do. But because of the way I was trained, I just caved.
“Can you get that two volume book done by Friday even though today is Tuesday?”
Oh, of course! No problem! (I hope you like me now!)
Now that’s a silly example, but we’ve probably all been there.
In my case, I had no boundaries. And even the ones I had, I willingly bulldozed when it became the least bit uncomfortable.
I’d get angry, after the fact, of course. But that’s an extremely immature way to do things, now isn’t it? Why not just be upfront about it?
Why? Because I hadn’t yet made the choice to act in congruence with my own truth.
Who’s in control of you exactly? Have you thought about it? How many things in life and business do you do because you “have” to?
Once again, I don’t believe you were made this way. You were trained this way.
Just look around at what we’re dealing with here.
We live in a world of sheep who have been trained to bleat about what they think and believe but NEVER actually LIVE what they believe…especially when it could become inconvenient or uncomfortable.
They can’t have their behavior congruent with their conviction because they “might get in trouble.”
What happens when you go out into the world and your behavior is INCONGRUENT with your belief?
You waste your potential to add value to the world and you become inert. When I come up against this, I always imagine telling my kids the story of my life. “No children, I never wanted to do X and X and X. I knew it was wrong. But I did it anyway, because I was afraid and I didn’t have the guts to say no. But don’t be like me. You go change the world now.”
Eeek. Imagining THAT conversation always brings me back to realize I must be the demonstration FIRST.
When you realize that almost everything you were trained you “have to do” was handed down to you by someone who DIDN’T have the guts to say NO, you realize that YOU have an opportunity.
You can either choose to be your authority over you or you can choose to submit to someone else’s claim of authority over you.
No one knows better than you about you. No one can make rules for you. No one can make laws for you. No one.
Now you can’t go around to SHEEP and say things like this. They’ll look at you like you’re nuts. They’ll tell you to get in line. What they’re not saying is “YOU make us really uncomfortable and we can’t have that, so stop it! We don’t want to miss our TV shows!”
You’d better shape up or you’re going to get in trouble? By whom? By the same people who think they rule over you? Where’s the logic in that? There is none.
We started this talking about business. And this approach is effective there: congruency of thought and action. It’s powerful. You stand out.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Business is a part of life. And bringing your actions in alignment with your internal beliefs, ideals, values and principles will create ripples through every area of your life.
Be confident.
Know what you WILL do. Know what you will NOT do.
Live and work by that code that YOU set.
And then stand up when the consequences arrive.
This is what I will teach my children.
That’s how you live FULLY. That’s how you serve others POWERFULLY. That’s how you change the WORLD.
It starts with YOU. And it’s rarely convenient.