Where are the Instructions?

In life, where are the instructions? Many times we are told we need to “step out of the box” or “out of your comfort zone” to grow. I heard a great line the other day about personal growth, it went something like this, “if you’re green you grow, if you’re ripe you rot”. WOW, is all I have to say about this one. How true! Just think about this one for a second. Picture an orchard full of fruit trees—when the fruit is ready for eating then it is already beginning to deteriorate. When you go to the local grocery store and you are purchasing it you know it will only last a short time before it is rotten. But then there is the fruit just starting to grow-- green and thriving. Which one will be around longer? The green ones, of course.

The same can be said of business-- you should also approach life like you are green every day, you always need to be a state of mind of continuous learning. Now back to the question, where are the instructions? The instructions in life are the same as a recipe or assembly instructions on some Swedish manufacturer’s product. Remember the line, step out of the box? You need to step outside of your box, so you can read the instructions for your life because the instructions are written on the outside of the box.

Step outside of yourself, and look at yourself, now do you see your instructions? Self awareness of who you are is important to your career, the way you are seen in the business community or in your home life. Do you like what you see? The important factor about self awareness is that is almost always a life changing adventure. Are you ready to buckle your seatbelt for a great ride in your own life?

Personal change needs to occur because you want to change, not because others want you to change to make you what they want you to be. Now what good is that, sure you will change your behaviors to be in line with what your spouse, boss and others want you to be, however, over time you will slowly revert back to you old ways of doing things, your old behaviors and habits. True change in life only occurs when you want to change.

A great example of this is the diet industry. It is a very successful line of business because you sign up to meet others’ expectations of your appearance and then the diet program wants you to change to meet their goals and ideals. No surprise then that when you stop the diet you go back to where you were or even worse. Again, successful changes in life occur when you want to change.

Instructions in life are not as strict as those you find in your Grandmother’s old recipe book, you need to have flexibility to change to what ever pitch is being thrown at you, just like a hitter in baseball. Sure there are great hitters that can knock fastballs out of the park; however they struggle with curve balls. Now, do you think the pitcher is going to throw fastballs? Of course not, the same happens in life, if you are great in one aspect of your career, do you think those opportunities are going to be served up to you? No, the hitter that can hit well on every pitch will have the better batting average, the higher level of success and of course the bigger pay cheque at the end of the season. Same in business, you need to be flexible, sure be a great fast ball hitter, however, hit curve balls, sliders and knuckle balls equally or better than the fast balls.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Stuart Crawford is a business leader in the Calgary, Alberta small business computer consulting business. His company IT Matters is a leader in providing Microsoft based small business solutions using Microsoft Windows Server and Small Business Server. IT Matters is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Small Business Specialist, visit IT Matters online at www.itmatters.ca or email Stuart at scrawford@itmatters.ca. Stuart also manages the Canadian Small Business Show at www.canadiansmallbusinessshow.com

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