Personal growth, self-awareness, work that matters May 7, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Personal Development Potential.Tags: life purpose, meaningful work, negative thinking, personal development, personal growth, self-awareness, self-esteem, self-improvement, work that matters
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In our personal development work we will encounter a lot of information about our immense potential for improvement and the need to have a plan for realizing all that we are capable of.
The hidden danger in this is that, if we are not careful, we may subconsciously make the mistaken assumption that much what we are currently doing with our lives is somehow inadequate.
Our increased self-awareness may actually lead us to believe that we are not doing work or activities that matter.
Well, what we are already doing does in fact matter, even if that work or activity is not fully reflected in the appreciation of and approval of others.
It’s great to be seeking ways to make our work more meaningful, but everything we do does not have to change the world in order to have value.
Our contributions in a variety of roles such as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, employees, employers, bosses, students – each of these roles has meaning and worth. But too often we interpret a lack of positive feedback from those in our circle of influence as a negative indicator of our contributions.
It’s important for our self-esteem to remember that our work would be missed by those in our circle, if we stopped doing it – regardless of whether we are receiving a constant stream of positive reinforcement.
Speaking of “work that matters”, here is an extreme example of a vital and responsibility-intense life mission; that of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, as related to C.G. Jung in 1924, by one of the Pueblo leaders, Ochwiay Biano:
“We are the people who live on the roof of the world: we are the sons of Father Sun, and with our religion we daily help our Father to go across the sky. We do this not only for ourselves, but for the whole world. If we were to cease practising our religion, in ten years the sun would no longer rise. Then it would be night forever.” (1)
(1) As quoted in Gerhard Wehr’s book, An Illustrated Biography of C.G. Jung, p. 61
Personal growth and the fear of failure paradigm May 6, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Fear and Anxiety.Tags: achieving goals, fear of failure, overcoming anxiety, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, self-improvement, Seth Godin, visualization
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Paradoxically, one of the main reasons we may feel the need to start a program of personal growth and development can also be a factor in why we find it difficult to make progress.
Namely, fear of failure.
We are afraid or anxious about trying new approaches to solving life-situation problems because we fear that we might not be as successful as we need to be in our efforts. And so, we may turn to the concept of personal growth for help.
And yet, even though we intellectually see the need in our lives for a systematic approach to self-improvement, on an emotional level we avoid making the full commitment to our program in the fear that it might not turn out well.
Much has been written about how we can reduce or eliminate fear of failure in our lives.
However, it’s difficult to “will” a strong emotion, such as anxiety or fear out of our minds.
Perhaps what we need to do is recognize our anxiety, understand the fear of failure motivating it, and then do what we need to do regardless of, or in spite of, our anxiety.
At the same time, it could also be productive to make an effort to anticipate positive outcomes in our minds with the challenges we are facing.
Seth Godin succinctly describes the paradigm of fear and success in relation to completing or shipping personal projects:
“I define non-clinical anxiety as, ‘experiencing failure in advance.’ If you’re busy enacting a future that hasn’t happened yet, and amplifying the worst possible outcomes, it’s no wonder it’s difficult to ship that work.” (1)
As we continue to work on our program, and start to accomplish goals in spite of our fears, we may well become more confident in our ability to make continued progress in our overall personal growth.
(1) You can read more from Seth Godin on his blog at the following URL:
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