Do You Want Results or Your Opinion?
Hi Friend
This was a rather epic week. I told you last week my bride and I were going to attempt to climb a 14'er. We did. Mt. Bierstadt is our third 14'er to climb together. Without fail, around 13,000 feet, I lose the ability to breathe. I get weak. I take 10 steps and then need to lean on my invigorated wife. I pant and gasp, then continue on another 10 steps. It's miserable.
And also, I love it. Seeing the peak... knowing where I want to get to... knowing I have the physical ability to accomplish it... and yet feeling like I may not make it because my lungs can't get enough air is such a surreal experience. Like most other physical endeavors, it's a mind game.
After a long nap later in the day, my beautiful partner shared with me about VO2Max - which is the measurement of your lungs capacity to move oxygen (or something like that). Of course, the apple watch and phone track it, somehow. Michelle averages 46 and I average 39. Those seven points make a big difference.
I wonder what other invisible factors are limiting me? I've run consistently for 15 years, moving a lot of air through my lungs. I don't smoke. I would think I had premium lungs. I do not. That's frustrating and disheartening. When was the last time you discovered something was holding you back and you didn't even realize it until it was pointed out?
BLIND BLINDSPOTS
Most of us think we know our blindspots. Hubris of humanity is never in short supply. The fact that others know and see things about us that we don't know or see about ourselves is beyond our comprehension. I'm sure you think "dude I know myself better than anyone and I certainly know all the ways I suck and fail on a daily basis, thank you very much!"
To imagine there is even more blind, blindspots can be discouraging. I have enough I know about so to layer on ones I don't, my ego just can't manage it. Ahh reality. Ignorances reputation as blissful resonates, because once we discover our deficiency it converts to denial if we don't address it.
MINDSHIFT
What if our blindspot that others have tried to share with us is genuinely preventing us from making progress?
WILLINGNESS + HUMILITY
I've been working with a speaker coach this last month. She gets me. She gets my messaging. She understands and appreciates my POV on ownership. She also knows the bureau & business world of speaking. She's been matter-of-fact about the changes I need to make to my website and messaging - the one I just spent months and real money building - if I want expand my reach.
You and I can resist the very thing we want because of pride. We can be more caught up in being in control than getting the results we desperately desire. It's a strange paradox. It's humbling to admit publicly or privately that this thing we've invested so much in, we're changing... again. I am determined to listen to trustworthy people point out my blindspots then make changes.
MINDSHIFT
What if you completely surrendered your need for control and gave someone else the final say entirely in an area of your life you weren't getting the results you wanted?
OPINION
90% of life is your opinion. The other 10% are facts, that can be interpreted in multiple ways. 100% of the stories in our minds are fueled by those two elements. Your perspective about others. The weight you assign to their actions or inaction. We aren't living in the Matrix, but we create a lot of our reality by what we value; based on our opinion.
Truth supersedes both. If I want to keep climbing mountains, I've got to increase my VO2Max. I'm not getting the results I want with my business, so I need to be willing to adhere to others wisdom.
Let's not love our opinion so much that we miss out on the results we'd love a whole lot more!
SHIFTING
I hope this week you figuratively reach your peak by being willing to lean on others, not hold to your opinion so tightly and entrust deficient areas of your life to someone else. Get better results! #ShiftAway
