You Can’t Solve the Maze from Inside the Maze — Lorraine Hamilton

Have you ever been to one of those fun parks where there’s a maze that you need to solve and you go into this labyrinth and it’s all walls and secret doors and pathways, and it can be really difficult to solve when you’re in it?

But then you’ll find that there are some high towers around the maze, and when you climb up the high tower and look down, you can make out the pathway.

I remember going to one of those a few years ago in Wanaka, New Zealand. And it was so frustrating when I was inside the maze, but then when I climbed up one of the towers, I could see how it all fitted together and how to get out. And it seemed much more simple.

What is challenging your mindset and how are you responding?

What’s that got to do with personal and professional development? Well, your mindset is the one thing that is going to be constantly challenged in your personal and professional development journey.

And it’s often the thing that sets those who succeed apart from those who don’t. There are so many tales of people coming from different or similar backgrounds and getting wildly differing results.

One thing that matters is how you respond to the challenges and opportunities in front of you. I’m going to let you into a little secret…

That doesn’t mean that it’s not challenging and sometimes a little bit stressful, but the more I have going on or the bigger the deals, the bigger the opportunities, the less I sweat the small stuff. Failure is easy to fear when you take small steps, but when you take bigger leaps, you’re less attached to the outcome.

Your development is a paradox

And just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, another challenge rears its ugly head. It’s not surprising though. Your development and growth is a constant paradox between staying safe, in our primal selves that are programmed to stay safe and keep you surviving at all costs, and the necessity to constantly challenge that programming in order to grow and take the next step.

You can’t solve your problems from within them

Remember you are the strategist of your life. You’re the legendary leader of your life, problems and challenges are going to arise. I haven’t found a way of stopping that yet, but you can’t solve them from within them. Your job is to take that 10,000 feet view of what it is you’re trying to achieve from end to end. A bit like climbing the tower in the maze and looking down on it

The more time you can spend in that elevated mindset, the more you can plan ahead and achieve. And it’s something that I take all of my private clients through and also my group clients in my group coaching program. There’s a process of going through setting goals so that you have that benefit of perspective, but also you know what it is that you need to do. And it really circumvents that primal part of you that’s going to get in your way every single time, and also keeping you inspired and motivated while you do all of the steps that are going to get you where is that you really want to go?

The higher you go, the more important your mindset

If it seems scary, remember these things don’t happen overnight. Many successful people have spent a lot of time growing and working on their personal development. In fact, the more leaders that I work with, the more they’ll say that the higher up the tree, they go the higher up their organization that they climb or the bigger the challenge that they take on, the more it is mindset work that is the thing that sets them apart.

1: Clarity

Take that 10,000 foot view. It is a great approach to any problem or any strategy. Remember, you cannot solve a problem from inside the problem, and that’s going to give you immense clarity. And that’s the first pillar clarity.

2: Consistency

Polish up your communication and leadership skills constantly, that’s going to help you to become more and more consistent. The more consistent you can be with people, the more they are drawn to you because they know what to expect and they feel safe around you.

3: Courage

Recognize that feeling fearful in most cases, isn’t life threatening. Lean into that discomfort and you’ll come out the other side stronger, I promise. It takes courage, but you will reap the rewards.

Originally published at https://www.lorrainehamilton.net on September 9, 2020.