Personal growth: Inflexibility and the failure to achieve goals May 8, 2018
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in personal development ideas.Tags: achieving goals, goal visualization, inflexibility, inspiration, life, personal growth, personal growth program, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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In our efforts to focus zealously and determinedly on our self-development goals, we can sometimes want so badly to go in a certain direction in our self-actualization that we may willfully ignore real obstacles and brush them aside without thinking carefully on how to overcome them; and, as a result, perhaps fail significantly in our overall personal growth objectives.
On a much larger scale than the purely personal, this was a problem faced by President Abraham Lincoln as the Civil War with the Southern States was drawing to a close, and Lincoln was seeking support for a non-punitive approach to rebuilding the South after the end of the war.
In the movie Lincoln, the President is portrayed as having a discussion with Thaddeus Stevens, a prominent member of the U.S. House of Representatives, who held the view that the South should “pay” for its secession and for the war through a variety of measures that Lincoln considered vindictive.
Lincoln makes an argument against this “untempered” approach to Reconstruction in this excerpt from the movie:
It’s a strong argument against clinging too rigidly to what we might consider “a correct view” and then failing utterly in our goal, instead of being willing to compromise and achieve at least part of the good outcome we seek.
— Dennis Mellersh
Personal development idea: Setting limits on our expectations April 16, 2018
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in personal development ideas.Tags: achieving goals, goal visualization, life, personal development ideas, personal development potential, personal growth program, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, self-improvement, writing
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When any of us are tempted to jump onto/into the latest self-help system for achieving our goals, we might want to bear in mind a phrase that advertisers of certain products and services sometimes use in the “small print” of their promotional material; a phrase designed to provide to cover in case of consumer dissatisfaction.
The phrase, or one with equivalent meaning, is often used with products, systems, and services involving generic experiences of users or testimonials involving actual people who have successfully used the product, system, or service.
The phrase, or one like it, is of course…”your experience may differ.”
In the world of self-actualization effort, it’s natural to want to try the latest thing on offer, just like an artist wanting to try out a new line of paints, brushes, or drawing materials.
It just that we need to mentally give ourselves a “small print” warning that when we try something new after being convinced by the promotional material…
“Results shown are not typical. Your experience may differ.”
It’s also a heads-up that we should not be too hard on ourselves whenever we try something new in self-improvement and the results are less than we anticipated.
Dennis Mellersh
Personal Development Ideas 