What is the “GAME” you are in today? If a peer was to rank you where would you be in the pack? Are you at the back of the pack? Perhaps you are running harder and harder to catch up and it is getting very tiring. Maybe you are in the middle of the pack, trying hard to differentiate yourself from the people on your left and on your right. Now if you are at the front of the pack the view is pretty good! If you turn around you will see the hungry hoards nipping at your heels vying for that front point lead.
Earl Nightingale said: “One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.”
Now that’s a proven formula! So what have you been doing to be at the top of your field these past three years? Remember where you are in the pack. If you do not have a plan of growth which also includes study, reading, taking courses to expand your knowledge in your field of expertise, attending conferences to learn what is going on out there in the big world of your field and networking with the thought leaders and influencers you will stay right where you are.
One of the buzz phrases today is to be “in the moment” and “to be present”. Well that is true but if you do not have the information, facts, figures, trends and strategies that make you the person whom others want to talk to, do business with, be a follower of your leadership then you can be present and in the moment all you want and you will still be in the same position in the pack.
Each of us must take ownership of our forward growth. Continued “LEARNING” is part of growing and leading.
“If you are not learning and moving forward; you are stagnate, not moving and actually dying inside mentally, spiritually and physically…” Janice Bastani
Think about all the different areas of your life. When we learn we grow in those areas. Here’s an example outside of the business arena: when you were a teenager, “FUN” was one of the top priorities in your life, if not the holder of that number one spot, later after your formal education, “CAREER” bumped fun off of the top of the list and you had to engage in some step mountain climbing to get a position in the pack. Perhaps later you had children and you were faced with all those things that never even made your list; like: making bag lunches, after-school care and activities, birthday parties, sleepovers and such. You to some extent had to learn the fundamentals and the flairs needed to make your children happy, well fed and engaged while being cared for while you worked. As children grow, mothers are faced with the daunting task of learning (sometimes the hard way) about dating today, curfews, college prep in the electronic age, monitoring cell phone and text usage etc. Life and the globe are in a constant state of change and we as mothers have to keep up or we fall behind very quickly with the speed of change.
This same thing is true with you staying at the top of your game.
It is my experience that we get so caught up in the “DOING” that we forget that one segment in our life that keeps us refreshed, renewed, and the spring in our step and that is the area of “SELF”. When you actually set aside time to do what replenishes you and plan time away from work, children, household duties and really relax, this whole notion that “life long learning and growth” doesn’t seem so burdensome, like one more thing you have to do.
What do you think?
