Success in Balance

The problem with popular thinking is that it doesn’t require you to think at all - Kevin Myers

I’m not an answering machine, I’m a questioning machine. If we have all the answers, how come we’re in such a mess? - Douglas Cardinal

Last night I completed my reading of Skill 8 in John Maxwells Thinking for a Change. I must say I was skeptical of this chapter as it talks about questioning popular thinking. But the more I read the more I agreed. Maxwell does not argue that we should question absolutely everything and live our lives in constant change, just for change sake. But he does recommend that each of us take our lives off auto pilot. Some great quote from the chapter include:

It is true: most people are more satisfied with old problems that committed to finding new solutions.

We limit our success when we adopt popular thinking.

We must always remember there is a huge difference between acceptance and intelligence.

So how can we apply this as we strive to achieve Success in Balance with the rest of our lives? For me it means looking at what I do and why. It means to step out of my comfort zone, to look at things, experience things I have not experienced before. It means trying to understand people I really don’t want to understand. As we reach beyond ourselves we achieve better more robust thinking, which can impact all the area of our lives.

The greatest enemy to tomorrow’s success if sometimes today’s success