#ComfortZone #StayInYourLane #competition #art #music #jobs #employment
The age-old question constantly arises: should one stay in his or her lane, or should one get outside of his or her comfort zone?
Perhaps it depends on the circumstance. There are certainly benefits for a person to do what he or she knows, and do it well.
But, there are other circumstances in which a person should challenge himself, or herself, to do something he or she may have never done, or thought he or she would never do.
As an example of the former, country music singer Blake Shelton, the outgoing coach on the TV singing competition “The Voice,” in the past has advised members of his team, such as some country singers, to stay in their lane.
These singers may be competing with singers who can more easily extend their voices athletically to do things the country singers may be less willing, or perhaps unable to do. But Shelton understands that many of the show’s fans, who ultimately vote for the winners each season, like country music.
So, Shelton may advise those singers to do what they do best, because the fans like that, and will vote for them.
In the latter case, it’s tough to get noticed in the workplace if you are pigeon-holed into a job that limits what you are allowed to do.
Certainly, employers may like workers who are “self-starters” that need little supervision. But if you aspire to bigger and better things, you may have to go outside of your designated area to show what you can do.
In other words, you may be very comfortable performing the assigned tasks you are given. But, you may perform those tasks in obscurity, which may hinder your career progress.
That begs another question: how does one know when to stay in one’s lane, or to get out of one’s comfort zone?
The answer may come down to one’s gut feeling. It may also come down to one’s ambition. In the case of “The Voice” singers, one’s ambition can help them to win the competition. Because it is a competition, one may want to extend his or her talent to the fullest to win. But, because vocal competitions are an art form, rather than an athletic battle, it may be best to do what one does best, to the best of one’s ability.
On the other hand, if you are stuck in a comfortable job but know you have the ability to go further up the ladder, you may have to extend yourself.
You may have to look for things – perhaps extra things – to impress those who have a say in promotions. These extra things may not be easy to find. But, perhaps one must get out of his or her comfort zone to find them.
The fact that a person left his or her comfort zone to do something extra will impress those who need to be impressed.
By doing so, one becomes not only a “self-starter,” but also is motivated to take risks to show his or her talent that may not be obvious from his or her “comfortable” work.
Circumstances dictate how one operates in life. Comfort may be nice, and appropriate in some instances, but sometimes going the extra mile is necessary to impress.
If you don’t have the ambition to get out of your comfort zone, you may have to cultivate it. If you don’t, what’s comfortable now may become stifling in the future.
Peter
Tag Archives: art
BACK AND FORTH: DECISIONS, DECISIONS
#decisions #OverThinking #marriage #willpower #jobs
When someone goes back and forth with a decision, some may call him analytical.
Others may call him indecisive.
Still others may call him thoughtful or deliberate.
Naturally, we all should think before we do. But, sometimes, over-thinking can steal opportunities.
The science, or art, if you prefer, of thought is knowing when to make a decision.
Some decisions, like whom to marry, are often made on not necessarily impulse, but emotion. Sometimes, more thought is required. Other times, if you feel the person is right for you and you could lose him or her by pausing to think, you may go with your emotion and hope not to regret later.
Other decisions require immediate action. An investment opportunity comes along that could cost you if you wait to think more. This requires some quick calculation, or complete trust in the person who brought you the opportunity. It’s natural not to trust someone else, but here’s where you have to trust yourself as much or more as you trust someone else.
Then, there are the choices that require willpower, such as the choice to pass up the cake in the buffet line in lieu of a salad. Here, the decision involves how often you eat cake, how seldom you treat yourself, how often you do other things to compensate for the cake etc.
Besides whether or whom to marry, there are other life choices we all have to make. Let’s start with our jobs. Are we doing a job just because it pays us? Are we doing a job because we actually like what we are doing? Are we doing a job because, well, someone has to do it?
All jobs pay, and most don’t pay nearly enough to live the lives we would like to live. If that resembles your situation, you can do one of many things: first, you can stay at it and hope things will improve; second, you can stay at it while continuing to look for something better; third, you can stay at it while squirreling away savings, and investing those savings, until you have enough to retire; or, lastly, you can stay at it while doing something else part-time, outside of work, that will enhance your income and, perhaps, dwarf your current paycheck.
There are many such vehicles out there that can help you accomplish Plan B, the last alternative. To check out one of the best, message me.
Whatever road you choose, decisions are required. First, you have to decide how badly you want something, and whether what you are doing is going to get you that something before you die.
If the answer to the latter question is no, then you have to decide how open you may be to alternatives. Certainly, alternatives can look, or even be, scary. But knowing that what you are doing isn’t going to give you what you want may be even scarier.
Of course, you can decide to settle with your situation. That may be the devil you know, so you can sort of live with it, and never realize your dream. At least by doing that, you may not have to make any “scary” decisions, or so you think.
But if your life goals are powerful enough, fear of the unknown will become less of an, or no, issue.
Many life decisions require openness and optimism. Answers to prayers can present themselves in different ways.
The science, or art, if you prefer, is knowing when the answer to prayer is there for the taking.
Decisions, decisions. Know yourself. Trust yourself. Be open to new things and follow your dreams.
Peter
COLLEGE PREP: LESS RIGOR, MORE FREEDOM
Many look back fondly to their high school days.
Perhaps their college days were even better.
But Stan Beiner, head of the Epstein School in Sandy Springs, Ga., just outside Atlanta, believes we are turning our middle school students over to high schools who will prepare them for colleges that don’t exist.
They’ll get lots and lots of homework. They’ll take lots of Advanced Placement and honors classes. They will have multiple extracurricular activities.
In other words, to paraphrase Beiner, we are preparing our kids for the “rigors” and “challenges” of a tough four years of college.
If you have gone to college, how did it compare with high school? Were you faced with tough task-master professors beating you up, and bogging you down with the drudgery of academia?
Beiner does not de-emphasize school work. Contrarily, school work should be an integral part of both high school and college. But neither high school nor college should be a mere endurance test. Both should teach students the balance of school work, a part-time job, extracurricular activities and, yes, fun!
“The high school years should be about friends, sports, clubs, youth groups, summers off and, of course, school work,” Beiner says. He uses the story of how he and his wife were informed by his child’s private school that 10th-graders could be invited to college orientations. The parents politely declined. The only expectations they had for their 15-year-old was that she focus on her classes, play sports if she wanted, engage and debate youth group politics, hang out with her friends and worry about boys, he said.
Before anyone expresses outrage at what may seem to him as a lackadaisical attitude of parenting, think about this: when you left high school for college, you were on your own. You had a looser schedule. In some cases, you could set your own schedule. You could, say, arrange your classes to have every Friday or Monday off. In most cases, as long as you did the work, the teachers didn’t care how you did it, as long as you didn’t cheat.
In an old school of thought, piling homework on high school kids was a way to keep them “out of trouble.” There was little worse, in some minds, than a teenager with too much time on his hands.
The fallacy of that argument is that no amount of homework would put the kids most at risk of getting in trouble on the straight and narrow. They simply would blow it off. Meanwhile, bogging down good kids with homework, particularly the kind that is deliberately designed to be tedious and time-consuming, keeps them from getting into activities that would enhance their education and experience – sports, arts or a part-time job, for instance.
They may also miss out on the fun that is an integral part of growing up. They may soon grow resentful of the “prison” they are in. They may “act out” in response.
Beiner’s ideas may be over the top for some. But his point is that college is NOTHING like high school. Anyone who has gone to college knows this. Also, just as important as school work, a student needs to have freedom to learn to manage and use time wisely. This will also help students manage money better – watching what they spend and how they spend it – on their own. The good students will mature more quickly. Those at risk for trouble may find it sooner.
Speaking of managing time, is anyone out there working full time at a job, and looking to build a fortune that could retire them early? If so, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. A few hours a week, without affecting what you are already doing, may change your life.
Beiner says it’s no wonder that cheating, eating disorders and depression are too common among students. He advises parents to make sure kids have time to do what they want, and find out who they are. With today’s gadgets, you need to encourage them to get up from the computer and go out and “play.” Do what they need to do, but also do what they LOVE to do.
In Beiner’s mind, they’ll be much more prepared for college.
Peter