A forest of potential
Have you ever wandered through a forest, taken a deep breath and felt like you have just grown this tiny bit taller because of all the growth around you? I have many times.
Having grown up in the Black Forest area in Germany, the forest was part of my home since I was born and it still is a place of inspiration, focus and grounding to me. I believe there is a forest of skills, possibilities and hopes inside every one of us. Imagine this – what if there is a tree for each of your abilities? I’m sure you haven’t explored the entire forest yet, so there’s a lot of undiscovered potential you never even thought of.
I know, most of us have full time jobs, the grocery shopping needs to be done and you’ve organised some free time activities in the evenings. So how can you possibly go out there and focus on growing your potential on top of all this?
Surround yourself with growth
Being surrounded by something or someone that is constantly growing inevitably makes you desire to develop as well. And here I’m not talking about the forest anymore – You will learn and draw inspiration from people who found out there is always more to life. How to recognise these people? They have a vision, make the most out of any situation and aren’t afraid of doing what feels right. They are aware of the fact that it takes courage, failure and hard work to live a whole-hearted life.
Embrace unexpected support
The most interesting support is the kind of advice you didn’t ask for and the other person didn’t intend to give. I’ve had quite a bad week the other day and I felt I was about to make some wrong decisions – but I was stuck so I didn’t really see another way out. Then I met this guy at a convention and he told me that he never finished his degree because he wanted to set up his own small business. And he did – against the advice of family and friends. He said “I’m not a big fan of plan B.” I went home that day, rolled up my sleeves and worked on my plan A.
Join the journey
Surrounding yourself with growth doesn’t mean to force yourself into new friendships, it is about paying attention to what people have to say, who you have a good connection with and most importantly – who is getting the results you want to see in your own life. Don’t make their story yours, there is no time and reason for comparison and jealousy (I learned this the hard way.) Join their journey by learning from them, being inspired by them and adapt the same growth mindset. See it as a forest – The uppermost branches of certain tree species don’t touch one another. While the reason for this is still unknown, some believe that trees optimise light exposure and protect each other’s branches from breaking in the wind by giving each other enough space.
So ask yourself this week:
What do I want to achieve this year?
Who am I going to surround myself with?
What can I do to make a new connection that supports me?
What will make me grow?
Look around you – think about whose growth will enable your own. Make sure you have determined your own goals so you can be on your very own way to achieve them.
“The Monday Logs” is a series of blog posts giving you “logs for thought” to work on for the week. I’d love to be part of your progress so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and little moments of success with me at grow@danafuelles.coach.