Allow Yourself to Arrive

Because the ego can never be satisfied

One of the things I’ve noticed with my corporate clients over the years is that when they get close to reaching a target or have actually realized a goal immediately they move the goalposts and decide…

  • it’s not good enough
  • it could have been better
  • they could have been better
  • immediately a “higher” goal appears from out of the blue.

Do you recognize this pattern? Maybe even in yourself?

Achievers naturally want to go again but all too often, especially in the business world, people are running on empty whilst living under the illusion that “Whenever I get the promotion/title/money/ or hit my targets” then “I’ll be happy/at peace/ or be able to relax”.

It’s a classic “Whenever..then…….” equation.

But it’s never enough.

Why?

BECAUSE THE EGO CAN NEVER BE SATISFIED!

If you take the analogy of a car, you do have to fill it up with fuel (even electric cars need charging) to keep going, yet somehow we’ve bought into the lie that we don’t need filling up, that somehow it’s laudable to run on empty.

Future gratification is always around the next corner (or next business target)….and then the next corner….and the next……

The impact of this is that corporate leaders rarely tend to stop and give themselves a moment of appreciation for all the hard work and dedication they have put in – not to mention the challenges they have overcome – to get to where they are.

They completely overlook who they have been and/or have become during the process. 

As a leader, if you are unable or uncomfortable in arriving and/or taking a moment to reflect, appreciate, fill up and then go again, how can anyone in your team do the same?

How does this impact the culture you’re creating?

Part of my job is often to just make my clients stop, go back and dare to celebrate what they’ve achieved; to see how they’ve transcended some inner limitation/falsehood which is often more challenging than any external goal.

Because, ironically, it’s in allowing ourselves to arrive right now, to fall in love with this precious now, that is more likely to support us in accomplishing our dreams and (dare I say) hitting our targets…

So I dare you!

What if you were to allow yourself to arrive right now.to be present to the experience of arriving....to “fill up”, appreciate how far you’ve come and what you’ve already achieved beforeyou set off again?

Copyright © 2018 Enlightened Leading. All rights reserved

Photo by Samuel Clara on Unsplash.

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2018-12-19T21:14:28+00:00
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