Assessing Your Options & Making The Absolute Most Of Them
Working as a business coach, I often meet determined, hardworking people who have a clear idea of what they want to achieve and how to do it. Yet, they encounter some form of professional rejection. Most plans depend on a certain set of circumstances. These can be an affirmative answer from a superior, a successful business pitch, an expected amount of funding, or support from relevant stakeholders.
In real life, however, things don’t go as smoothly as we want them to. Our boss may not yet be ready to give us that promotion we think we deserve. Potential backers may not see the benefits behind our product. We may find that the market is saturated with the type of product or service we provide. Or that we’re simply not receiving the amount of support we expected.
Should any of these forms of professional rejection be an excuse not to try? Definitely not!
One of the most impactful sentences I’ve heard from a client was the following: “Yes and no are equally good answers.”
One of the key components to human behavior is seeking out affirmation. We may have imagined our way to achieving a certain goal. Maybe we read about a “foolproof plan” that will surely help us succeed. We may have a set of professional and personal habits we’ve developed through years of experience that tells us the way something should be done. But, when it comes to career advancement, we have to continuously consider whether certain thoughts or behaviors are helpful or not.
Think of it this way: when you were in school, you were probably expected to do the best you could. This meant a certain kind of pressure on getting an A, scoring a high number of points, or even exceeding expectations in a field of study. If you ever experienced anxiety before a test, a project presentation, a product launch, or still fear your upcoming performance review at work, you know exactly the kind of pressure I’m talking about. It’s a debilitating fear that may as well mean you’ve wasted all your time preparing, because it’s making you think of all the ways you’ll fail, instead of allowing you to look at all the opportunities you’ve created for yourself.
Seeing only one option is a handicap.
We condition ourselves into expecting pre-determined results. This way, we are creating a mental frame that we rely on any time we think about our goals. That mental frame is what determines our limits. It makes us think in a single way, counting on already defined resources.
Have you ever backed down from anything just because you expected not to get the results you want?
I can tell you right now: NO can also be a beneficial answer.
Limiting ourselves with the idea that there is only one way to achieve something is the worst thing we can do. Yet, all of us do this sometimes. However, there’s not a single way to reach your desired outcome in life. There are many ways of achieving a certain goal, so don’t let anyone tell you that one is better than the other.
In order to maximize our own potentials, we first need to learn to fully embrace every possible shape of the outcome of our work, including professional rejection. A negative answer doesn’t mean that you’ll never achieve what you want. It just means that the best way for you is different from what you have tried so far.
Furthermore, flexibility is important in more than just determining your road to success. After all, your very idea of success should be flexible as well. Imagine this: you’ve dreamed of becoming the general manager of your company since you first started your job there. But why limit yourself? You can also strive to become the general manager of an entire branch or even global operation.
The key thing to remember is not to limit yourself. You should not limit your actions, nor your desired outcomes. And you can expand this philosophy to all aspects of your life. It can help shape the way you live, spend your time, the company you keep.
By training ourselves to be flexible we are allowing ourselves to reach our maximum. We are also allowing ourselves to exceed it. Flexibility gives us the chance to grow, improve and learn new thinking and behavioral patterns in the process.
Dare to try! Dare to succeed! Dare to fail!
There is nothing more satisfying than getting results, knowing that you’ve worked for them.
If you find that you are unable to move past professional rejection or your self-imposed barriers, or that you’re self-sabotaging with certain types of behavior, go ahead and read my articles about how to get started. Part 1 can be found here, and Part 2 is here.
Still stuck? You can talk to a professional. They can help you unlearn your self-sabotaging thinking patterns. A career coach can also help create a flexible plan towards success. Your first coaching session with me is COMPLETELY FREE, all you need to do is click HERE to book an appointment.
