Over the past decade, I had the privilege to coach hundreds of professionals in the areas of leadership development, change management and personal growth. The reality is that I never intended to coach on personal growth strategies but on almost every occasion the “human stuff” got on the way and did not let my clients, colleagues achieve the results that they wanted. So after many years of learning through my own personal journey as well as investing thousands of dollars on human development, I discovered a few simple strategies that help people find clarity, take action and see some everlasting changes in their professional and personal lives. My intention is NOT to promote balance and overnight success as you see on million blogs, newsletters. This is a blog that will remind all of us that living in a phantasy world, can be exhausting, expensive and will definitely keep us from living the life that we truly desire.
Today’s post is about Pride and the negative effects it has in achieving the results you truly desire especially in today’s economy. I see people on a daily basis that are either to proud to ask for help or too proud to try something different. What I am talking over here is for people that are stuck in believing that they are better than everybody else, their world is perfect and that they will get what they had in the past. It is so sad, but with the massive layoffs that we had over the last year and half, I see more and more people get trapped in that awful mind trap. They refuse to take a job that offers less money, they have difficulty in looking for something different of what they’ve done and sadly they don’t even dare to leverage their talents and try something new. If you are too proud, too stuck in the past, it makes you want to stay in that zone. Why? It is very simple. It is called comfortitis (yes that is a new name) that I am making up. People feel too comfort, and that’s exactly what keeps them from taking a leap of faith and try something different.
I am not saying that being proud is a bad thing. One of the things that I remind my clients is not too forget to give themselves a tap on their back and really be proud of themselves. I believe a person can never get tired by feeling proud about his/her accomplishments even failures, but if you find yourself reminiscing about the past and not wanting to change anything, maybe that exactly attribute might holding you back.
As a coaching tip for this week, assess different situations in your life and see if pride is holding you back. Below are some questions that can help you with this assignment.
- Is my pride getting on my way from asking for help from my colleagues, team, supervisor?
- Do I think I will look stupid if I ask for help?
- What will my wife/husband think of me, is she really knew that I was scared and didn’t have all the answers?
- What will the neighbors our fiend think if we shop at a consignment shop?
The list can go and on. By now, you understand what kind of pride I am talking about.
Have a wonderful week,
Carole
