Make a new ending

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
- Maria Robinson -

I had a great conversation about a week ago with another coach that wanted to know what it was that affected the change in my perspective regarding 'work' and my professional career. She knew that my early years at IF consisted of drinking, partying and living from pay cheque to pay cheque and so what she wanted to know was, what caused the change? My response to her at the time was that it came about after I had actually left to pursue other opportunities in China, which is something that I've shared and written about before, and how that gave me a chance to distinguish what was really important and what wasn't. Now, I'm not saying that any of that changed but, as I thought about the conversation more and more over the past week I started to realize that there was more to it than just that and it's something that I'm really seeing even more clearly now.

Looking back at all the different goals and personal plans that I've set throughout the years what's quite apparent to me is that the biggest changes I've experienced are when I've really stepped outside of my comfort zone. Conversely, the times that I become stagnant or complacent is when my goals and plans are only slightly modified or changed from what I would normally do. For example, putting my hand up and stating that I wanted to move towards being a manager (which was when I first joined the Kits team) and take on more responsibility was the cause of me actually progressing and developing professionally. The next big jump would've been when I started thinking about actually owning or franchising a facility of my own and told the current manager what I was going to be doing and taking off his plate because that's what would help me to grow. Most recently, I've been trying to focus on becoming more of a driver that seeks opportunities rather than waiting for them, and although it's been somewhat difficult I can tell you that it's slowly becoming easier and easier.

So how does this all tie-in together? I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that we can all try and tell ourselves that we're going to change, or that we're ready for a change but until we're ACTUALLY ready to change what we do in a significant way we can't expect significant results. It's no different than someone that wants to come in and see major changes in their body composition but is only willing to make minor modifications to their lifestyle and the choices they make....we all know that doesn't work so why do we do the same thing? It's not easy, but we all have the ability to start today and make a new ending.

- Paul -