Staying Real — What I’ve Learned So Far
For the past year, I’ve immersed myself in the personal growth space — both as market research for the company I am building as well as for my own individual growth. I’ve read countless articles, numerous books, watched a shit load of videos, attended conferences, seminars, and joined mastermind groups. I’ve personally spoken with and starting following a ton of thought leaders, coaches, and motivational speakers — those well established as well as those just starting out. I’ve networked, made some amazing connections and even partnerships along the way. I’ve worked on myself and do my best to implement all the lessons I’m learning into my own life and journey — both professionally and personally — every single day.
Here’s what I’ve observed so far and here’s what I’ve learned so far. I see two basic camps of thought when it comes to personal development and anything to do with realizing your dreams, achieving your goals, becoming your best self, and creating a life by design that you love. One is what I call the mindset, psychological and spiritual camp, and the other is the ra-ra, hustle, no pain no gain, work your ass off, be more productive and achieve all your goals camp.
I think most people focus all or most of their attention on either one or the other. But, what I know to be true is that BOTH sides and both camps of thought are absolutely essential, together in synchronicity. The way I see it — you can not focus on one without the other. You can’t only focus on believing in yourself, in your dreams, in a positive attitude, in love and compassion, in visualization, in the law of attraction and the universe providing for you and not actually do any work — hard work. And, you can’t only hustle your life away, work your butt off, and be a productive and consistent robotic machine that never slows down and never feeds your soul. Well, you can; but, I don’t believe either way will actually get you to where you want to go on your personal growth journey in a meaningful, fulfilling, purposeful and successful way.
The key, I believe, is to incorporate and implement both sides: a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Or, a lot of this, and a lot of that. But, there’s also another essential missing piece of that puzzle! You have to not only incorporate and implement both those camps of thought, you have to do so in a way that keeps you staying real and being real — with yourself!! And, with real life! Not all of our passions and dreams and goals gel well with the rest of our life, with our real self, and with the other things in life that matter to us. Not all dreams and goals and passions are particularly practical in our individual real lives. And, not all dreams and goals and passions necessarily serve us well in the comprehensive context of our own individuality and on our own individual paths.
Truly staying real with yourself is a very deep, complex, and intimate process. And, it’s not easy. It requires discerning and uncovering and digging deep down for all the stories we incessantly and invariably tell ourselves about who we are and what we want. Often, we’re not even aware that our stories aren’t at all in sync with our true selves and our own unique true desires, wants, dreams, and perceptions. Often, we think we’re being real with ourselves, but we’re really not.
For me, that’s the crux of what I’ve learned so far on my journey to seize my passion — to become my best self, to realize my dreams, achieve my goals, and continue to grow into my personal legend. I’ve learned that you have to incorporate both sides of the personal growth coin — the spiritual, soulful, mental mindset side as well as the daily hustle, grind, work your ass off, goal achieving side. And, I’ve learned that you have to implement those two into your true real self, in real life, and continuously stay real!
#SeizeYourPassion!
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