The Persona-Trap
Sometimes it feels like the fitness we want to achieve will never happen. The contribution we want to make will never be realized. The skills we want to learn will never come into play. The people we want to meet will never materialize.
It’s not a matter of whether the change will take place, but whether we can adjust our expectations to meet the speed and scale of our desired change.
Too immense + too far in the future = change-stoppers.
In reality, our change may be underway. But we miss the small signs because all we see are the big announcements from others about their Life Leaps.
Then we end up dismissing that the possibility of change will ever happen.
Or worse yet, we make a few steps and the moment others notice and congratulate us — we opt to settle for the status quo, the persona of having made a perceived leap.
Where is my life leap?
I am now years into my own Small Steps Daily Practice and I am living experiences that I could not have fathomed five years ago. All because…
I set an intention with integrity.
I practiced consistently.
I trusted my daily small steps forward.
I now know that these guaranteed a reliable and solid path to realize change.
There is value in not worrying over the question of “where is my life leap?”
How Much Change & By When?
Our world is populated with “gurus” who want you to set an agenda and a time target for changing your life.
The change they advertise feeds off of more change. With progress, we continue to accommodate their philosophy, so we oblige. Our path turns into a tight-rope walk that narrows to a “more” mindset:
More medals to win
More weight to lose
More people to hire
More money to make
More kilometers to run
More products to launch
More stages on which to perform
Before we launch our own program for change, we need to take a dedicated moment and ask “how much change and by when?” By doing so, and noting it, we provide to ourselves check points along our path of progress. We give to ourselves an overhead view of our transformation in the making.
Setting up checkpoints helps you to avoid the persona-trap: the hall of mirrors where we can lose ourselves in the pursuit of “more” — the time that comes in your progress when you are showered with early adulation from people who notice that you are losing a little weight, or saving more money, or running that kilometer 10 seconds faster.
The persona-trap alters reality.
This is where you need to choose yourself and let the persona take the leap.
What remains is what matters.
What remains is what transforms.
What remains is the real you.
With gratitude,
Joe
If you enjoyed this post, it would mean a great deal to me if you shared it. Please use the hashtag #PersonaTrap )
Hi, I’m Joe, the owner of 5 With Joe Performance Coaching. My clients are leaders, organizations, and teams who utilize my Olympic Gold Medal performance strategies and 40 years of navigating whitewater river rapids to streamline decision making and actions when engaged in complicated river currents of business and life.
The best way to interact with me is though Sunday Morning Joe, my weekly newsletter that explores the art of improving performance, overcoming challenge, and aligning with purpose for Sunday readers in search of more depth and motivation. Subscribe HERE for free.
