You’re paying a price … but for what?
In the big picture of things, nonconformity is discouraged while groupthink is encouraged, expected, and rewarded.
It’s where the comfort zone is.
It also, by definition,
— reduces options,
— stunts innovation and growth,
— sustains mediocrity and excludes excellence.
Whether you’re in a forced or chosen change, those around you want stabilization so they can have predictability again.
It’s also what you want.
But this Big Temptation—the fastest path to stabilization—causes many to commit prematurely. To settle.
Ending up with mediocrity and frustration instead of wonderful things you’d never imagined.
- To have a better life it takes courage to risk embarrassment, rejection, retribution, and even expulsion from groups where you belong.
To break away from groupthink.
To make waves.
To go against the current of status quo.
Even when status quo purports to be “best practices.”
Even when tradition has “proved itself with the test of time.”
Because best practices and tradition don’t make cutting-edge decisions. They just do what influential people say is best.
- And they create comfort zones where YOU may stop thinking for yourself.
But risking rejection by being different is better than regret.
If you’re unwilling to risk rejection by breaking away from others’ norms and expectations then guess what …
you just might be rejecting yourself!
This is what settling is—rejecting yourself.
Quitting on yourself.
- And that’s not how we’re designed to live. That’s why it always hurts to settle.
(BTW—quitting isn’t always wrong. But settling almost always feels wrong. Two different things.)
Either choice—change or status quo—they both have a price to pay.
What are you potentially missing by staying in your comfort zone?
Is it worth it to not take the leap towards becoming that version of yourself you’re pinning for?
Are you really still willing to risk regret at the end of your life by staying put?
Author Daniel Pink found out that most dying people are REALLY unhappy with regret … it was the biggest thing on their minds.
—Julie
#HighPerformance
#Burnout
#Regret
#SelfEmpowerment
