Last week, I wrote about the value of a 1% daily improvement.
Sometimes, we really do need the reminder that slow and steady progress in the tiniest increments can yield amazingly successful results.
This week, I want to explore how we can enhance that progress by finding that sweet spot of STRETCH.
We can certainly find the concept of stretch in the most obvious place, for as Martha Graham reminds us:
The Body Never Lies.
Indeed, the body is the clearest example of, and the best metaphor for, how pushing ourselves too far physically, results in injury…and yet, if we don’t challenge ourselves, nothing ever happens.
Either way, the transformation we’re after doesn’t take place.
Stretch can be less clear, however, when it comes to financial and career goals.
I’ve coached individuals and consulted with corporations where they were either too timid in their approach, or alternatively, downright delusional.
One client, someone full of enormous potential, wanted to be worth $100 million in two years, even though he was having trouble paying the rent.
Unless he won the Mega Millions jackpot (just FYI, chances of winning are 1 in 258,890,850)––the gap between this client’s present reality and his goal was so vast it could only lead to failure and discouragement.
My job was to shift his goals so that they satisfied his life-affirming ambition, but at the same time were grounded in reality.
Another client, fresh from a successful corporate career and now wanting to go into leading wellness and transformation workshops, thought she would consider offering her first one in the next 3-6 months…maybe.
I countered that she was more than ready now and that she should simply gather four to six friends and have an informal event next week.
To her great credit, she took a deep breath, moved through her resistance and fears, and had a small workshop in her living room.
Then she had another, and another, and now has a long waitlist of people who want to hire her for coaching and speaking.
I often find myself floating between these extremes.
I’ll intend to write a new 70-page book proposal over a long weekend…or I’ll put off starting to write anything until I’ve earned an informal, self-determined PhD on the topic.
Neither path serves me.
We all have to find that space of STRETCH where things are not so easy that we’re bored, or so overarching we’re doomed to fail.
Stretch is the place where things still feel good, yet with an edgy sense of expansion.
There may be a little discomfort, but no sharp pains.
We’re grounded in the present but reaching for something more.
Knowing how to find the right Stretch is an invaluable skill, one we can all develop, and one which will support a lifetime of personal growth.
Namaste for Now…
