What Metaphors Are You Dancing With: Do They Really Support You To Be Successful?

Hello,

Today, I’m covering a fascinating topic—one you might find a bit unusual but definitely worth exploring: What metaphors are you dancing with, and do they support your success?

Our language, especially English, uses metaphors a lot. Some languages don’t rely on them as heavily, but that’s a topic for another article. For today, let’s look at the metaphors we use to describe ourselves. A metaphor describes something by saying it is something else, often to convey a deeper meaning.

For example, saying, “I’m stuck.” That’s a metaphor. But are we really stuck? Let me tell you about a woman I worked with who was writing a book. She was excited about it—focused on how women entrepreneurs can support each other to be prosperous. But then, she said, “Dr. Maria, I’m stuck. I sit at my desk, open my Google Doc, and my mind goes blank. It’s terrible. I feel like there’s a boulder in my way. I don’t know how to get over or around it. I’m just stuck.

”Now, when we say we’re stuck (or resisting something), is that really the case? I asked her to consider: “What if you aren’t stuck?” I coached her to recognize that each time she said “I’m stuck,” her brain was gathering evidence to support that belief. So I gave her a small assignment: “Write just one sentence a day for the next five days. No more, just one.” I also asked her to come up with a new metaphor to replace “I’m stuck.”

Read the full article here.