It’s the last week of April and we have spent the better part of the month talking about increasing our resilience, finding joy where we can and looking forward with hope in the months to come.
Today we’re going to question the inertia that pushes us forward, sometimes without us even realizing it.
Have you ever:
- parked the car and thought to yourself, “I don’t remember driving here. How did I get here?” Autopilot.
- become the class room parent or the religious after-school teacher and then thought “I really only like my own kid (and not even 100% of the time!); how did I get roped into committing to this?” Autopilot.
- found yourself in a job or career that doesn’t align with what you want to do or how you want to spend your days? Autopilot.
Happens to the best of us.
Life has a tendency to organically propel us forward. When we’re offered an opportunity here, we wanted to be helpful there, or we chose a path that’s safe, stable and not too risky, there’s a chance we might look up one day and find that we lived our lives on autopilot – going through the motions and living a nice life, but not the life of our dreams, fulfilling our goals and desires.
Some of you may be familiar with the work of Bronnie Ware, former palliative care nurse now author and speaker. Her seminal book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying – A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing explores just that – the Top 5 Regrets, expressed by those in her care, as they faced their own mortality.
The #1 regret – “I WISH I’D HAD THE COURAGE TO LIVE A LIFE TRUE TO MYSELF, NOT THE LIFE OTHERS EXPECTED OF ME.”
I’m keeping it short and sweet this Friday, Partners.
Turn that statement into a question. Then be thoughtful in your response.
“Am I living a life true to myself or am I living a life others expect of me?”
(Am I on Autopilot?)
Depending on your response, try some of these others on for size:
- Where am I not being true to myself?
- What courageous steps (or ONE STEP!) can I take to say “no, thank you for the offer”, break a people-pleasing habit, allocate time to work toward a goal or dream I have?
- What can I do to get back to being an active-pilot not an auto-pilot?
If you’re curious as to the other 4 Regrets, click HERE for the rest of the list!
If the statement “let me give you some feedback” gives you shivers, join me in May as we explore how to feedFORWARD vs. feedBACK.
Schedule time on my calendar HERE and let’s see how we can become thought partners.
SBJ Consulting, Inc. is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®.
