Do You Know Who You Are and What You Want?
When U look at a certain object, a photography for example – U won’t be able to appreciate everything the artist has put into the photograph, appreciate it for what it truly is or see the photo as a whole if the picture is only an inch away from your face. You’ll have a clearer vision of the art work and see what the artist intended to create, once you have gotten outside of your own head and examine the photograph as a whole.
In life, until U reach a point when U are ready for change, an opportunity for change can be staring U right in the face but you won’t see it. As humans, we often wait for our lives to get better on their own when, typically, our lives will only get worse without any intervention on our part.
Years ago, I worked for a company whose management style was, what I like to refer to as, “management by crisis”. Nothing was ever done about issues the companies faced until the problems reached crisis proportions. Then and only then did the company take action and, often, the end result fell short of completely repairing or solving the problems at hand. As a result, employees were negative and the work atmosphere wasn’t pleasant. No one wanted to be at work – management or staff. Once employee morale caved so did work productivity which only led to additional company problems and dissatisfaction as a whole.
It’s sad to say but we often employ the same life management tools; we don’t begin the repair process until the situation smacks us in the face and we find ourselves in crisis mode. We finally begin to see the warning signs and signals once things become difficult and we are miserable. The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self improvement power is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart around us. We behave this way because change isn’t easy and settling for mediocrity, even if we are unhappy and unfulfilled, is so much simpler.
Unfortunately, change becomes even more painful when we ignore it…take the frog principle for example:
Place Frog A in a pot of boiling water. What happens? He twerps! He jumps off! Why? Because he is not able to tolerate sudden change in his environment – the water’s temperature. Place Frog B in luke warm water, then turn the gas stove on. Wait until the water reaches a certain boiling point. Frog B then thinks “Ooh… it’s a bit warm in here. Time to move”.
People are like Frog B in general. Often we don’t feel the need to engage in change and self improvement as long as things don’t get too hot. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our life – and we will need to unlock our self improvement power not because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realize it’s for our own good.
Now, you don’t have to feel tremendous heat before realizing the need for self improvement. Unlocking your self improvement power means unlocking yourself from the cage of thought that “its just the way I am” and “I don’t have a choice in life”. Of course these thoughts are just excuses used when we fear and resist change. In actuality, we have the potential to be whatever we wish to be. However, to realize our full potential we must fully participate in the process. It will require effort, tenacity, and our willingness to fail again and again.
Self improvement may not be everybody’s favorite word nor will it come easily. Change will happen, like it or hate it. Still, if we approach change willingly and with a happy heart, we will have a greater chance of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days hoping for improvement to land squarely in our lap.
“Standing on the fringes of life… offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
