Ready to accelerate your growth in 2021?
In E87 Paula Moyer and I sat down to talk about our own growth and share what we have learned around choosing the trajectory of our lives - which could not be more important with the New Year right around the corner (check out E87 HERE).
To get you started, I’m going to break down our top fours tips for accelerated growth:
1 - Take responsibility for your choices.
First and foremost…
Own. Your. Shit.
“When we allow ourselves to disconnect and think we're no longer responsible for that choice, that somebody else is now pushing that on us... that somehow you lost control...or you don't have as much command of that as you want is completely just a made up thing that is...a way to not have to deal with the difficulty of making a different choice now.”
There is a lot that you are not in control of in life, but you always have control over your thoughts, your decisions and your actions - which means you always have a choice in how you show up.
Your choices have led you to exactly where you are at.
Don’t like the way things are looking?
Well lucky for you, you have a choice in that too:
“You adjust.
You adapt.
Change your perception of why you're there or you change the environment.”
Now I can already hear some of you saying “But Charlotte…”
My challenge to you then becomes, drop the excuses, because there will always be one.
Imagine a world where excuses do not exist...
You either do the thing or you don’t.
It happens or it doesn’t.
You evolve or you stay where you are.
There is no shame in either, but by removing excuses from the equation it then becomes a choice - and that is really what it has been about all along.
2 - Build a support system (and be one for others).
You do not have to go it alone.
In fact, I encourage against it, and here is why…
“You can't see your own blind spots. You're going to bump into stuff and have crashes...you will hit lots of things, trigger old belief systems that you have in yourself - and you will slow yourself or even stop yourself from progressing…
...having someone who understands where you're going is going to be able to say, “Here is that thing coming up again and here's a tool for you, let's navigate that.” And instead of it being a stop, it just becomes a little poof and then you keep going.”
I am a firm believer that what got you here won’t get you there - the same ways of being that have led you to where you are will not shift you out of the space in which they put you (this is where it is important to ask yourself if you are getting the result you want).
To create a shift in our perspective, it needs to be challenged - and this is where a support system is crucial.
Whether it be a coach, a mentor, a mastermind, or a close group of friends, having people to confide in, challenge you, and champion you is essential to reaching your next level of success - so take some time to connect with people who have similar values and goals, people who will elevate you.
3 - Don’t compartmentalize.
If there is one thing that so many of us get wrong it is the idea that our work life is separate from our personal life (substitute “work” for any other area of your life).
To be clear, I am not saying to bring work home with you, or to take your personal drama to work, but what so many of us need to recognize is that we are one person - the values that drive us in one area should be the same as the values that drive us in another.
“When we compartmentalize ourselves is when problems start to happen, we fragment.”
In order to show up as the best of us (which promotes our growth), there is a level of alignment that is required…
What is the opposite of wholly aligned?
Fragmented.
Every action that we make should be aligned to our values, whether it be at work or at home - if we make choices that are out of alignment while at work, that ripple will trickle into our home life and vice versa (by trying to compartmentalize we end up muddling the whole equation).
So take some time to get really clear on what your values are, and then make sure each choice thereafter is aligned with them.
When you show up as the best of you in all situations, that is where real growth happens.
4 - Trust.
As we round out 2020, I bring this in as a reminder that we are still in a no forcing zone - if it is meant for you, you won’t have to force it:
“It's scary, but you take the leap and you just trust it.
And it's been the secret sauce formula, the trust and letting go, the surrender and the checking in with yourself. And I always say now the things that are meant to be they come in and they come in seamlessly - and it happens in these ways that logic can't always explain. And once things have to leave, then they become hard and it's not smooth, it's not seamless.
And I used to try and force those things to just work - the driven part of me. But that's where that little ego hook would step in.
But finally releasing and surrendering that - if it's not meant to be, listen, it's going to feel really clunky and hard. There's gonna be a lot of resistance, and all these moments that we speak of were very scary choices.
But everything just fell into place and it was just so amazing.”
Trust is a practice.
It is a practice of humbling our expectations.
A practice of finding much joy and gratitude in our present circumstance as possible.
And just like us, this practice isn’t perfect - it’s a learn as we go type situation.
But if you can get to a place where you truly trust that everything is happening as it should be, then you stop forcing things into your life that aren’t meant for you, and you make space for the more incredible, more aligned things that are.
Now this doesn’t mean that it won’t be challenging at times - we are here in this life to learn the lessons that are required for us to reach that next level. And then the next. And then the next. And these will be difficult at times, if not all the time.
And so our final tip for accelerating your growth is really about trusting that everything is happening as it should be - reflect on what it is you need to take from each situation…
What learning, what information, what clarity - and then use that to propel you forward.
Let’s take everything you learned in 2020 and use it to transform 2021.
Burn off what no longer serves you.
And fuel that which is aligned with the best of you - to ultimately change the trajectory of your life.
Paula’s journey is truly an example of leaning into transformation.
This is an episode you don’t want to miss!!
Listen to E87 HERE.