It’s straightforward and customary to settle into the consolation of choice and routine. On some degree, that is to be anticipated. Over time, we craft our lives round what we all know we like, from the espresso we drink and the reveals we watch, to even the concepts and opinions we maintain pricey.
And the extra we do this, the simpler these patterns turn out to be to repeat.
This familiarity in life isn’t inherently dangerous. On some degree, it offers us a way of safety and id—it makes up the folks we’re and the lives we stay.
However there’s a hazard when consolation turns into complacency. There’s some extent the place “I do know what I like” can shut the door on development, new experiences, and even knowledge that others can supply us.
There’s a refined line the place “I do know what I like” begins to remove from pleasure and even a probably extra significant existence.
In any respect phases of life, however possibly much more the older we get, we’d be sensible to focus much less on “I do know what I like” and extra on “What’s working for you?”
It’s silly, in fact, to imagine that we all know all issues and have every little thing found out in life completely. So on some degree, this shift in considering that I’m encouraging right this moment is an invite to humility.
Nevertheless it’s not nearly the truth that regardless of our age, we will nonetheless study from others. It’s about actively pursuing that knowledge.
It’s about deliberately transferring away from “I do know what I like and I’m not going to alter” to “What’s working for you? And the way can I enhance life for myself and others by transferring towards it?”
Give it some thought this fashion: Shifting from “I do know what I like” to “What’s working for you?” is a small change in wording however a big shift in mindset.
The query invitations a dialogue and opens us as much as study from the experiences and successes of others. It’s an acknowledgment that maybe there’s a special, possibly even a greater method, to method varied facets of life that we hadn’t thought-about earlier than.
We will see this in small methods. Questions like “What restaurant do you wish to eat at?,” “What films have you ever loved seeing?,” “What books are you studying?,” or “What hobbies are you presently having fun with?” can introduce us to new meals, new experiences, and new passions.
However the utility of this mindset goes nicely past leisure actions. It may possibly (and will) prolong into extra profound areas of our lives.
We will ask our associates and folks we glance as much as questions like:
What’s working for you in your bodily well being?
What’s working for you in your private funds?
What’s working for you in your relationships?
What’s working for you in your profession?
Or think about the insights we might acquire by asking a good friend, “What’s working for you in managing stress?” or “What labored for you in restoring that damaged relationship?” These questions can uncover knowledge, recommendation, and methods we’d by no means have realized in any other case.
However to get there, we have to transfer past being content material with what we like and the way we’ve determined to stay our lives. We have to purposefully want to study from others.
Adopting this way of living doesn’t simply profit us individually. For one, it sparks a tradition of sharing and neighborhood and deciding to study from each other moderately than argue with each other (and don’t all of us want extra of that nowadays). Once we stay sensible and intentional lives, everyone wins.
So let me encourage you right this moment. Assume much less “I do know what I like.” Ask extra “What’s working for you?”
And let’s all develop and be higher due to it.
