Susan Winters How Far Can We Go with the Right Mind Set, Attitude and Motivation?.........
I was once told by someone I respected that he believed people reach a maximum capacity in life and can’t break
through that barrier. A level of ability is achieved by a person when he or she is unable to neither improve nor move
beyond.
Of course, he was referring to a person’s capacity for work.
As children growing up, we continually learn and improve our skills academically, socially and financially. These skill
sets are somewhat intertwined; as we learn more, we move in different social circles and become financially rewarded
according to the changes and improvements we make in our lives.
There is often a bit of luck with life and created by the dynamics of our individual socio-economic choices we make. So
at what point is the use-by-date of our improvement cycle?
I wondered if this was something that was pre-determined. That was the point my colleague was trying to convince
me of. Somewhere in our DNA at a particular time in our life, do we reach a maximum level of our ability? Are we
able to go beyond that point successfully?
The key word is successfully. Most people EXPECT to go past this level simply because we don’t know that we have
reached it until we actually FAIL. Even then, as individuals, is it the number of failures we accept and settle on that
determine our place in life?
People do fail at many things, many times. It’s a given that success is only arrived at because of failure. Take the
obvious ‘occupation’ for success and failure, the sports person. Individual improvement of a sports person is
measured by success. The number one ranked golfers in the world fail. He or she wasn’t always number one, yet they
served an apprenticeship in the lower ranks first and with it their fair share of losses or failures.
Yet my colleague’s definition was that continual failure means a person has reached their true level of achievement in
life and can go no further.
If a golfer has not progressed beyond a ranking of fifty six in the world for two years, is it safe then to assess that this
player’s ability has levelled out and no further improvement can be expected? Maybe, yet they often do keep playing.
Not everyone can be number one or top ranked, yet many keep playing. They might change their manager; change
some equipment or their coach. They will often do anything (constructive or even superstitious) to get an
improvement.
For two years they may have peaked at number fifty six in the world thus they might change some equipment or their
mindset or attitude and with that, they progress to a world ranking of fifty.
Their ability has not changed. They are still the same athlete they were before the equipment or attitude change, but
they are now a bit higher in world rankings.
Through education and experience we can improve our life skills. But at what point do we accept what we have as the
be all and end all?
There is an old saying: “if you continue to do what you’ve always done, you will continue to get the results that you’ve
always got”
So, do you think my colleague was right?
Susan Winters: Civil Marriage Celebrant, J.P. is 2012 to 2014 President (NSW & ACT)
of the Association of Civil Marriage Celebrants in Australia. Susan organizes and
conducts over 50 amazing weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, funerals and
celebrations a year. Don’t leave it to chance - ensure your next special occasion by
emailing Susan at [email protected] or visiting
http://www.susanwinterscelebrant.com.au