Reflection: Am I standing in my own way?

 Recently I shared a post on LinkedIn highlighting the following quote: 

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain. 

I would like to add to this quote by inputting the word “Dare” before the word “Discover” 

This quote had some significance because I came across it on a day when I was meditating on what potential am I leaving on the table. What areas of my life do I need to further explore and discover? Am I holding myself back at all? 

Perfect timing no? 

Surprisingly, I have discovered and identified several areas in my life that I have not been exploring or pursuing properly. 

I was sitting down with my wife, Liam, and sharing my discoveries and asking her to help me gain some clarity on the mental blocks that I was facing. 

Through some discussion and guidance, come clarity was found and I sprang into immediate action. 

In this article, I really want to take through the steps or how we apply the 10 principles to help us come to these realizations and then how to identify them, overcome the roadblocks, and then spring into action. 

Are you ready?

Here we go: 

Principle 1: Challenge The Status Quo

The first step is to challenge my mindset - what am I trying to avoid? What am I not doing that I can improve on? Am I holding myself back? Why? 

The many questions are the challenges. Now, I need to go and look for some answers. 

Principle 2: Getting Clarity

But first, I need to get clear on my “why” - why am I doing what I am doing? Why am I pursuing this “more”? What is the desired outcome that I would like to achieve from pursuing these thoughts, questions, answers, and endeavors? 

I need to get clear with myself first to fully understand what is my true purpose - I’ll explain why this is so important very shortly. 

Principle 3: Setting Goals

The next step is to set some goals on how I can achieve my desired outcome. What is my “ask”? What would I like to see come out of my endeavor? 

For example in one of my roadblocks, I have identified that I would like to achieve 1 or all of the 3 possible outcomes that can potentially be achieved with the pursuit of that endeavor. Getting these goals clear, only strengthen my levels of clarity and will soon act as ammunition when the time comes to take the necessary action in order to achieve my dream or ambition. 

Principle 4: Don’t Fear, Don’t Fret 

My heart is in my mouth. My head is shutting down. I’m finding a whole bunch of other stuff to do and somewhat avoiding the inevitable that I know will come one way or another. I will need to make that phone call and no it won’t be so comfortable at first. My brain is shooting at me all kinds of stories that I will end up looking foolish or that I will burn that bridge. 

But is all this real? 

Principle 5: Push Through 

I need to rip that bandaid off as quickly as possible. Sometimes that’s what it takes. 

Sometimes, we just need to close our eyes and just go for it. If we have done all the other steps properly, meaning, if we got the clarity of why we are doing what we are doing and if we are able to set the clarity into actionable goals - then we just push through the fear and we challenge our “status quo”.

Principle 6: Trying Everything  

Come up with alternatives, try everything, and ask the right questions. Find ways to get the “yes” even when it seems that there’s a no.

For example, when I was reaching out to a potential partner and I was all up in my head about it. I asked myself what are the 3 top things that I want from this person and how can I make at least one of these things something that would be easy for him to commit to. 

Principle 7: Show up - Be Omnipresent 

This one was going to be a tricky one. What I decided to do was to suggest to my potential client an opportunity where they can test my commitment and test whether or not I am someone that is able to show up. I got creative and “reinvented the wheel” with a solution that I will explain in a bit - but first, I made sure that whatever creative solution I come up with will be something that aligned with my core values as well as the values of the potential client as well. It is important to not only show up entirely yourself - but also, to show up for the person that is on the other side of the call too! See them for who they are! 

Principle 8: Reinvent The Wheel 

In this particular case, my wife inspired me to come up with a very out-of-the-box solution. It had absolutely nothing to do with business whatsoever. It suggested a solution that will keep the prospect and me in touch as often as possible with no relation to business, but rather entirely on a relationship-building basis. This is creative - because people expect you to find all kinds of ways to sell to them - what they do not expect is that you will take the conversation completely the other way and offer them a solution that is entirely based on connecting with them on a deeper level - who does that these days? 

Principle 9: Expect The Unexpected

At the time of this writing, I have no idea what will come out of this prospect and if it will bear fruit, but there’s only one way to find out. Honor my commitment. Show up, and be everywhere in that person’s life. I will always be on his radar. There is no way of knowing what will happen in the future, however, if we position ourselves in such a way that something can potentially turn out - we are ready to jump and serve. 

Principle 10: Patience 

This brings us to the final principle and perhaps one of the hardest ones of them all - patience. Take a step back and let the chips fall where they may. You did everything in your power to make the deal happen, now it’s time to let time do its thing. Maybe it’s not going to be today, this week, this month, this year, or ever - you never know. Take it slow and let your faith take over from here. 

With that being said, let’s turn it over back to you. 

What are the lessons that you have learned from how these principles play into the whole process? What are takeaways that you can learn for your own life? 

If you enjoyed this article and the lessons found within, can you please do me a favor? Consider the following… 

We will be launching an Online Community which will support and act as a resource for its members to use these 10 principles in their daily lives - professionally and personally. Sign up for updates on the upcoming book and updates on the community - sign up here. 

Contributors to this article include: 

Yermi Kurkus - Yermi has spent most of his career helping people at their lowest find meaning and purpose through proven methods that are built from psychology, philosophy, and mystical teachings. Yermi's approach is pragmatic and down to earth, thus coining the term Practical Mindfulness. 

Today, Yermi partners up with business owners, professionals, and individuals that want to become more "irresistible" in their personal and professional lives, as well as helping founders build "irresistible" systems in their businesses.

To learn more about Yermi Kurkus feel free to follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. You can also reach Yermi by emailing him at [email protected]