Lead a vivid life that does good

Tag: Personal Growth

How to rewire your brain

How to rewire your brainMy neighbour’s bach (holiday home) sits on the sand dunes a short distance from the beach. The walking track from the bach to the beach sort of dog-legs through the sand dunes. It doubles back, and makes the walk longer than it could be. But while the path is longer, it is considerably easier and faster than trying to force a new path where one doesn’t exist.

Which is how our brains function.

Over the years we form habits, good and bad, that create neuro-pathways in our minds. These paths make it faster and easier to do things and they eventually become habitual. They become automatic. And the more you use the path, the faster and easier it becomes.

Which is why it is so hard to break old habits. Because the path already exists and has become the default pathway. New habits, like trying to make a new track to the beach, means creating a new path which takes an incredible amount of hard work.

But, you can create new paths. You just need to walk the new track over and over again.

That’s great news!

Our brains are plastic.

Our behaviours are changeable.

You

can

change!

Recently I was making my morning cup of tea and without thinking I added sugar. I haven’t had sugar in my tea for years, but while my mind was somewhere else, my brain chose the old neuro-pathway.

My brain spotted the mistake before I added water, and it reminded me how established the old paths are.

When we are trying to break old, lifelong behaviours, often they will pop up when we least expect it.

That’s OK.

It takes a long time for the old path to become overgrown.

Just keep walking the new path.

Letting Go

If you want people to grow - you have to let go“You don’t understand,” I said partly in jest, “It has nothing to do with their fear of change. It’s ALL my own insecurities.” As soon as I heard the words leave my mouth, even though I was meaning them to bring humour, I knew they were true.

I was trying to work out what my role should be in Agoge, the social business I founded and own. Hearing these words changed everything. I realised that so much of my identity and status and self-esteem was tied to being the leader.

And allowing my insecurities to win, would eventually lead us to lose.

This week Jim Grafas, was promoted to CEO of Agoge. I couldn’t be more excited to see a person who I trust and who is an amazing friend take the role. More importantly he is a phenomenal leader who people love to work with, who deeply cares for people, and who passionately believes in Agoge’s vision of People Matter ∴ Do Good.

I will tell you something else about Jim. He doesn’t yet know everything he needs to know to be CEO, which means he will make mistakes. Which is exactly how he will grow.

If I allowed my insecurities to stop me stepping out of the way. Then I not only stop myself growing, I stop Jim, and the amazing team beneath him from growing as well.

If you want people to grow, you have to let go.

Since having the insight about my own insecurities, it’s amazing how often I have heard it in others. So many leaders and managers and even parents are holding great people back, purely because they won’t let go.

Our role is to help people grow into the best possible version of themselves.

We don’t do that by holding on.

We do it by letting go.

If you want people to grow, you have to let go.

 

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Finally in case you’re interested. I haven’t retired. I’m now the MD of Agoge and still passionate and emotionally invested in its future. I’ve also teamed up with Vivek to co-found a new social business, that aims to have the same ethos and purpose that Agoge does, but solve a different problem.

Two stories about being uncomfortable

Personal growth starts by stepping out of your comfort zone.We were chatting with a friend last night who is doing a course in Distribution of all things. I say this purely because you wouldn’t have expected it. She was telling us how she is learning to drive a forklift and strap down a truck. She has also had to do numeracy & literacy assessments, that cause her to reach deep into the cobweb covered archives of her brain, and reignite her stored knowledge. And as she talks there is excitement in her voice. She is excited to be learning something new. Something outside her comfort zone.

At work at the moment we are going through the most significant and positive structural changes since I founded the company. I have a new role, as does Jim (we really needed to find him a new role after he gave his role as GM to someone else). Most of the leadership team are reporting to someone new. And a whole bunch of people are stepping up into new roles. People are nervous and excited. Terrified and ecstatic. Uncomfortable and challenged.

These two stories reminded me that growth is uncomfortable before it is rewarding.

Personal growth starts by getting uncomfortable.

They call it a comfort zone for a reason. Because its comfortable.

But when you are learning and growing and stretching yourself … it’s never that comfortable.

Maybe it’s time you got outside of your comfort zone.

Why you should love being wrong.

Be WrongI love being wrong.

No actually that’s a lie!  Being wrong, is no fun, frustrating and outright embarrassing. Yet, I don’t hate being wrong either.

As children, most of our learning occurred as a result of being wrong. It’s weird then that most adults I know try to avoid being wrong, and in doing so miss incredible opportunities to discover new forms of right. We have grown to believe that being right about everything is good. It’s NOT.

If we are never wrong, we are never prepared to change.

And if we are never prepared to change, we never get the opportunity to grow.

So… be wrong.

Sometimes the hardest part of being wrong is admitting that this thing, or habit, or belief you have might not be right. Particularly when you have done it for so long.

Dont be afraid to be wrong every so often.

Without being wrong, we may never learn what’s right.