Get A Life: Change is Inevitable - Growth is Optional by Gavin Whiting

This Article was written back in 2004 but is even more relevant now. Enjoy

I continue to be amazed by the attitudes of some business owners who accept that they have no control over their destiny or environment, that they have done it “this way for 25 years” and therefore it must be right, or that they are simply content to scrape by. Why?

Some of this attitude is born from holding self-limiting beliefs. It is amazing where these self-limiting beliefs come from too! Ever heard a parent talk about their child in a limiting way, out loud in front of the child, to another parent? “Johnny is just like his father – couldn’t organize his way out of a paper bag.”

And what about those who give us advice about business? Advice from people who have never owned their own business, or have been unsuccessful in business, prejudices passed down from generations that simply no longer are applicable. I am helping a business owner who was told by his accountant not to expand because then he would have to take on staff – “staffs are trouble and there is so much extra administration required!” Unbelievable. Is it any wonder we are limited by the opinions of others?

Life Success author John Kanary says, “Thousands of people are leading dull and shallow lives because they are prisoners to their self-imposed limitations. These people lead narrow, superficial, monotonous and uninteresting lives. They live with shallow and boring ideas about life and their place in it. Why do these people want to be this way? If they knew how, would they change and live more exciting and productive lives?”

In my experience, a few people want to change for the better, but most are happy in their rut. Brad Sugars tells us, “the definition of a rut is a grave with the ends kicked out of it.”

It’s all about comfort really. Most limiting beliefs remain with us because we give up what we want most in life for something we want in the moment. Change is inevitable – growth is optional.

The purpose of life is to live. Are you in control or is time in control? If you want a life then start by doing two things:

1. Figure out what you want to achieve – call these goals, dreams, vision – visualize them and understand why they are important to you. Do not share this with anyone who is likely to tell you why you can’t have your dream.

2. Make a plan. Organize yourself, decide what knowledge you need to gain, and find someone who can hold you accountable. Plan the action, then action the plan.

Go well….