Minute With Mallon: Chasing Rabbits

Hi folks and welcome to "Minute with Mallon!" 

Something I Taught: 

Do you ever take a little too long to make a decision?

Recently I was working with a client who has been vacillating about what to do in his work life.  He has worked in an industry that has helped him attain success and recognition over the years, but that he now finds unfulfilling.

Through our conversations, I've learned that he has a God-given passion in another area.  He thinks about it often and dreams about what it would look like to follow this other path, but the comfort of the current career keeps him from making a decision to move forward with his true passion.

So I told him about this old Russian proverb:

If you chase two rabbits, you'll catch neither one. 

I asked him to pretend that I had a gun to his head, and that he had 30 seconds to tell me exactly what he wanted to do professionally for the next 10 years.  "If you knew that whatever you told me would come true and that you'd be very successful in it, what would it be?"

He began to talk, and I began to type and ask him clarifying questions.

It took a couple of minutes, but by the end of it, we had crafted exactly what he will be doing professionally for the next part of his life.

I'm not ashamed to say we both had tears in our eyes when we finished.  His vision for the future was inspiring to say the least!

Next, we came up with and agreed upon the first five actions he needed to take to move into this new life.

This new goal is the rabbit he's wanted to chase for several years now.  But the old, comfortable rabbit kept tempting him away from his true passion.

So my question to you is this: Where are you being indecisive in your life?  Where are you needing to move forward in order to live the life that you desire?  It doesn't have to be in your professional life.  It can be anything, but be clear about what it is.  Write it down!

And then feel free to let me know by responding to this email.  I'm good at keeping secrets.  You've taken your first step!

Decision paralysis is a real thing.  It affects a person's mental and emotional state, but it can also have physical manifestations.  So it's best to push through the uncertainty and make a decision that allows you to move forward in your life.

And sometimes you need a coach or other trustworthy person to help you do this.  Two brains are better than one.  Or as I like to say,

1+1=3

Something I Learned:

If you want to read an interesting book, I'd recommend Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck PhD.  She and her team discovered that we are NOT born with the intelligence that we will ultimately end up with in life.  We can grow!

Here are two excerpts from the book to get you thinking:

"Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don’t know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb—and stays that way for life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn."

"When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more that you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible—like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra—seem to become easy. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.)

Something to "think" about.  (Get it? :) )

Something to Ponder:

"Stepping out of your comfort zone may be uncomfortable, but it's where the magic happens and where your destiny unfolds." Unknown

 Something I Saw:

Close to my son’s home in Puerto Rico

Do you need to make some decisions in your life, or have some areas in life where you'd like to grow?

Set up a free 20-minute Discovery Call with me by emailing my assistant Rebecca at Rebecca@EliteCoaching.Solutions.  She'll set it right up and we can discuss what you're trying to achieve.

Until next week,

Robert