We are all unique. Every single one of us. Just like everybody else.

I love that it’s one of those seeming contradictions, again! But that’s not where I’m going this week.

This week, I want to talk about how we need to check out our assumptions and perspective for ourselves. Because we are unique, everything doesn’t always work the same way for us as we might think.

Here’s a great example that came up in my coaching practice this week. I was working with someone who had a goal, and she just wasn’t making as much progress on it as she’d like. In fact, she was procrastinating.

So we looked at what she was thinking (because what we think determines what we feel which drives our actions and behavior). She was actually thinking “This is easy. I’ve got this. I could knock it out anytime!” and what she was feeling was confidence. Which led her to do – nothing.

Huh. That looks pretty, though, right? Wouldn’t you think confidence would help her to achieve her goal? The fact was, though, it didn’t work – for her, in this situation. What she actually needed was a thought and feeling that created some urgency. We decided that she needed to feel eager, which sure isn’t the same thing as confident, and she needed a different thought to think in order to feel eager. She had to choose a different perspective.

So all of this goes back to my favorite purple unicorn blog, which is all about how there is no one size fits all anything. There is no one emotion that motivates everyone the same way. There is no one thought that creates the same emotion for everyone. In fact, you’re probably not even that consistent. I know I’m not!

It’s worth checking, every single damn time, to see if what you’re feeling is actually causing you to show up the way you want to show up. And if it isn’t, you’re just gonna have to look at what you’re thinking – and change it.

You have to check your perspective, and see if it needs an adjustment.

That’s the real work. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t really have to be hard, just sayin’…

And remember: in all things – progress, not perfection!

Love and light,

Maggie

*****

I signed off with “love and light” back when this was originally published and I’m not gonna practice historical revisionism by changing it now.