GOING UP?
Join me here Mondays for a little inspiration and motivation to start your week!
March 3, 2008
INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt
GOING UP?
Are you successful? Just average? Struggling? Before you respond, consider where your response is coming from. Like everything else, your reaction depends on your perspective.
These judgments are relative to where you are on the ladder. Feelings of success come from comparisons to those who have accomplished less. Likewise, feelings of failure arise from looking at those who have accomplished more. Where you stand right now can affect your perspective even more than where you have been or the steps you are planning to take.
Comparing your work to that of others often introduces doubt. The wisdom of Lao-tsu's Tao Te Ching tells us that "whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky." You might assume that a job promotion would raise one's confidence and sense of worth, but studies have found that "nearly half of recently promoted managers... express uncertainty and doubt about themselves and their new position." (Cassirer and Reskin, 2000)
The trouble is that a promotion places you in a position where you are no longer the best among lesser performers (a big fish in a little pond). Now you feel like a little fish in a big pond, measuring yourself against those who have already arrived. The big fish enjoys more confidence and security, while the little fish frantically fights to maintain against his larger competitors.
Once you realize, however, that it is only your own perspective that is holding you back, you can begin to take action. Again, it must start from the inside out, because you cannot cause change around you until you have effected change within you. Remember that it is not the size of the fish or the pond that matters - it is how much you enjoy being in the water!
