Wow, what a week. Have you ever had a week that you were glad was over, but happy to have been involved with?
I had a week like that last week. It was tough, for many different reasons, but ended up with a satisfying coffee at the beach.
When I reflect back on things, I sometimes feel proud to have put myself ‘out there’ and challenged myself. I could have said no and stayed comfortable but I would have regretted it.
“Growth happens outside of your comfort zone” is the mantra many business leaders use to motivate people to do more, to push themselves and to reach better standards.
It’s obvious stuff and I don’t think anyone would disagree with this concept, in your personal life or business life, it just takes a bit of extra effort.
I watched a short video clip about Conor McGregor (Ultimate Fighter) and, when you see him on the TV, he is easy to dislike. He comes across as an arrogant, cocky person and I certainly found myself wanting someone to teach him a lesson (It wouldn’t be me!). But…when you peer behind the facade, and get an insight into the real person, he is something special. His determination, motivation and will to succeed is phenomenal. He trains hard, spends hours crafting his skills and has an undying thirst to learn.
Everything he does transfers and relates to achieving success in all walks of life. He wants to be the best and does what it takes to reach his goal. When he is in front of the TV, and promoting himself, he does what is required but when he is back in his home town in Ireland, he is polite, respectful and humble. The real Conor comes out when he is not ‘performing’ and I like him now!
I think the same can be said about going to work. We have to put on a certain facade to get things done. It might be being tough as a leader, in a negotiation or as a business owner or it could be showing more empathy to get the best from others. I think we all have the ability to act a certain way in a ‘normal’ working environment but it is different from a cage fighting environment.
I doubt Conor would ever go into his ‘work arena’ not believing in his own ability and not wanting to win – every time. I can imagine, that sometimes in our working life, there will be times when we coast along, enjoy the ride for a while and put in less than 100%
After all, it would be tough to be out of your comfort zone every day and it would probably cause stress and anxiety, eventually. I think that having a balance allows us time to re-generate, rest and recover and I am sure that even Conor does that.
Stay focussed, go for your dreams and never give up. We all have the potential to be brilliant at something, it can take a while to fine tune it though, but it’s worth the effort…..
Enjoy your week