Here’s an all too common setting that has really seemed to baffle me very recently. Now, I know we are not really meant to talk about our personal lives on LinkedIn. However, I know what I am about to discuss is relatable with all aspects of your personal, professional and spiritual life.
Like many young people, I enjoy letting my hair down most Friday nights. Some people go to nightclubs, others watch TV and some go to the opera. I particularly like to go to my favourite bar on the Sunshine Coast in Maroochydore, where we are blessed with the presence of some of the finest blues and jazz musicians Queensland has to offer. This is where the story starts…
I decided to meet an associate at the bar at approximately 8:30 PM to catch up over the weeks events. A lot had happened that week and we were looking forward to sharing all the thrilling stories that had been created that week (entrepreneurship is full of them). When I saw him at the bar, I shouted, screamed and smiled to see the friend. We embraced, hi-fived and shared drink after drink and had a brilliant time. However, many different stories were panning out that evening in our surrounding environment…
There was a group of six beautiful women with glowing skin, athletic figures and brilliant smiles all wearing wonderful black dresses. I wondered, with such elegance and presence, how any of these women couldn’t have whatever they wanted? With looks like theirs and many eligible bachelors in the vicinity, that sole feeling of being desired had to be satisfied. However, upon closer inspection, I couldn’t be further from the truth.
These beautiful women were sat at a table. Slouched. Motionless. Disappointed. In fact, my associate and I even considered this to be a chore for the entire group. We then started trying to create hypothetical scenarios for how it all went down. Did one person want to come here for a quiet drink? What happened in the dominant member’s day? From the looks of things, they just didn’t want to be there. This thought, in fact, got me wondering.
How often are we forced into complying?
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean with rules and regulations. What I am more trying to allude to, in fact, are the societal norms which we often are told to uphold. But, is that best practice for our sanity?
Why should we be complying?
How should we be acting?
What should we be doing?
Unfortunately, we all (unless we are trained to adapt) are victims of what I call the “Tiptoe” syndrome. We take “NO” for an answer when our hearts are screaming for a “YES”. We say yes to social occasions merely to make an appearance instead of saying no when we can make a tremendous impact in our businesses, family and personal lives. We avoid danger and conflict in a mere effort to tiptoe quietly to the grave. Whilst we remove the risks and dangers from our lives, we also remove potential excitement and more importantly, the rewards.
See, we don’t just have radical innovation thrust upon society by playing it safe. We don’t just have flight, cars, iPhones, WiFi and democracy from playing it safe. We, the human race, took tremendous risks and acted congruently from the heart to get the freedoms, technologies, wealth and civil liberties that we have today. Playing it safe never got society anywhere.
So what have you been putting off?
Have you always wanted to launch your startup? And you are waiting for the right moment? Will that moment ever come? Are you waiting for it to be safe?
Have you been waiting for the perfect opportunity to quit the job you hate so you can jump across to a new company for another job which you will only hate less than your old one?
Are you waiting for it to be safe?
Remember….
‘Either you run the day or the day runs you’ Jim Rohn
So when you are faced with a compliance situation, gathering or meeting; I want you to ask yourself these three questions:
1. Do I need to be here?
2. Does it feel right?
3. How else could I be spending my time and why would that benefit me?
So next time you head to the bar with your work colleagues, have a little ponder…
Are you there to uphold the societal norm?
Do you really want to be there?
Are these people who are going to reciprocate and elevate you as a person or are there to help them?
I was there with my associate because we know that the abundance of life is within us. It didn’t matter where we are, we are going to have a tremendous time. Shall I even mention, living to our full potential?
Most importantly, we wanted to be there. We were stomping, dancing, laughing and smiling. We certainly weren’t tiptoeing.
So, where do you stand?
Are you going to do something remarkable?
Are you going to challenge the way we do things?
Are you going to have an impact and leave legacy upon planet earth?
Or, alternatively….
Are you going to tiptoe?
