Permission To Be GREAT!

Cindy's 9 - 5 job was beginning to chock the very life out of her, or so it seemed. Mondays were the worst because her weekends were often filled with her trying to play catch up from all the work she wasn't able to complete the previous week.

To make matters even worse, she was working on a job for the past 2 years that brought little to no fulfillment, causing her to feel unappreciated and overlooked by her supervisor. When she tried to offer new and innovative ideas, she felt smothered because she had to get permission for everything.

Several of her suggestions were shot down before they ever saw the light of day because of her supervisor's insecurities and fears. All of this made going to work a core for Cindy and she knew it was harming her entire life, most notably how she felt about herself.

In addition to becoming more irritable around her family and friends, she was inwardly shrinking inside and finding her creativity dying because she felt boxed-in and saw her boss as holding the keys to her future.

I challenged Cindy with the following question...

"What would happen if you gave yourself permission to be GREAT?"

I continued and asked, "What would happen if you took back the keys to your life and your future?" I reminded her that she was given the dignity of having a choice and her choice wasn't meant to be given away to anyone... including her supervisor.

I pulled out some keys placing them in my hands. I looked at her squarely in the eyes and sincerely, yet firmly, told Cindy to "Take back your keys!"

Taking back your keys is one of the first steps to reclaiming your life, happiness, and joy. It is essential if you're going to give yourself permission to be great, instead of suffering from a condition of permission mentality.

GREAT is a simple acronym I've coined that stands for...

Grateful, Resilient, Excellent, Amazing and Thankful

Here's my suggestion for you today. Take a piece of paper or type this out somewhere:

• What are the 10 things you are grateful for today? Circle the top one you are most grateful for today and reaffirm your gratefulness of it by softly saying this to yourself a few times.
• Write 3 - 5 areas you can become more resilient in your life, work, family, relationships or career? Resilience is the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. It's your ability to snap back when challenges hit you. Develop a simple gameplan of something you can do today to start becoming more resilient.
• List 2 ways you can strive for excellence in your life that will provide greater fulfillment for you on a personal level? (Please note: this is not perfection, rather excellence... there's a big difference)
• Think of 1 way you can amaze yourself today? Write it down and start doing it! Thomas Edison said, “If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.” You should astound yourself today if just tap into even a small percentage of the potential you have laying dominate inside of you!
• Write 7 things you are thankful for today. Post this somewhere you can see it throughout the day to remind yourself to be thankful. This kind of mindset helps to shift you from negativity to positivity.

This simple little exercise can be used as a tool to assist you in giving yourself permission to be great!

Personally, I like Martin Luther King Jr., thought on greatness. He said,

“Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

One of the most important loves, is you learning to love yourself and honor the beautiful person you truly are even with all of your faults and shortcomings.

You are human, not perfect.

However, it is very easy to start living a less version of yourself instead of striving to be the best version of yourself.

Being the best version of you requires taking a stand and being very intentional about not allowing anyone or anything to prevent you from fully expressing yourself. It entails gives your best to yourself and the world and not playing if safe or living small.

However, this is a matter you must take into your own hands, just like Cindy did when she reached out her hands to snatch back the keys of her life!

You must do the same.

Remember to be brave, be bold, and be brilliant... and TAKE CHARGE!

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If you have found this article helpful, I'd really be honored if you'd let me know with a comment below and/or a reaction. Your engagement with me and the article helps to breathe more life into this piece and turns our communication into a special two-way street, inspiring me and the others who read this... even if you disagree with what I had to say. The dialogue is precious. Thanks in advance and kindly share it with anyone you believe may benefit from this as well.