Experience is both a necessity and an opportunity to live life to its fullest. We need to creatively seek out opportunities to build our experience and knowledge base to a have a successful career. We also need to live (and hopefully prosper) through a myriad of life experiences to have truly lived our lives.
Are you a “gunna do-er”? Or are you a “planner” or a “let’s go” kind of person?
A gunna-doer who is always going to do that … one day.
A planner has preparation completed through to stage 6 but there’s still no sign of stepping into action.
A lets-goer is ready to jump straight in with no time to lose. Perhaps with a trail of half completed ventures in their wake.
While we may have different approaches to different tasks or situations, we can often notice a pattern. A pattern of avoidance, procrastination, giving up when it gets tough. It is helpful to be aware of this important piece of your personal puzzle that will influence the degree to which you are experiencing what your life has to offer.
There are two paradoxes often used to lament ‘experience’.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Bishop – Unsplash
The first ‘we need it, to get it’ and the second, ‘we want to have had it, in order to feel confident to do it’.
Curiously, we also consciously and subconsciously do our best to avoid it. Why? Because while it can be exciting and lifechanging it can also be confronting and … life changing.
A new career, project, job; trying something new; meeting someone new; moving states, losing a job, or someone you care about.
All these experiences see us grow and change – sure we can anticipate what these things might be like but until we have experienced them firsthand, we don’t have the depth and nuanced understanding of what it might be like.
Even shared experiences can be different for each of us. Consider our current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic – while we are living through the same moment, we are each experiencing it differently.
Whether work or life, experiencing for ourselves engages all our senses and the range of emotions, it gives us a richness of knowledge and understanding that cannot be gathered from books or podcasts alone.
Remember that trip you went on and you were gazing out from your vantage point and feeling immersed in the vista beyond. You pull out your camera and take a photo (or five) to try and capture the moment. But you can’t. You can only capture a one-dimensional version, that will trigger the myriad of features that together shaped the experience you enjoyed. But for everyone who looks at your wonderful holiday snap – it is a teaser at best.
The time is now…BE that person who step into experiences, BE in the game.
There are three common approaches to trying to get ahead, be your best self and live life to the fullest. Only one of them actual works.
1. One day when I HAVE enough time, money, knowledge, then I’ll DO the things I have always wanted to do and then I will BE happy and successful. (when will that one day come that I feel happy and successful…?)
2. The more I DO, the more I will HAVE. The more I HAVE, the happier I will BE. (we all know having more things doesn’t lead to being happier …)
3. Who/How do I need to BE and what do I need to DO, to create the life I want to HAVE?
The BE–DO–HAVE model (derived from the work of Ram Dass) is so valuable in helping us unpack how we can build a life we love right now. There is no need to wait, #3 sees us set ourselves up for success and step into action.
The congruence of us actively BEing the who that can DO what it takes to HAVE (the goal) provides exponential benefits in our mental, emotional and physical contribution to the goal and our personal contentment right now.
Reach out if you would like support to implement this powerful practice of BE-DO-HAVE in your life and create the best version of yourself in work and life.
Oh! I wanted to share one more paradoxical statement that can encourage us to ‘experience’…
“The learning is in the doing… “. As a ‘planner’ I have a love/hate relationship with this one, but it is so true! Remember, every experience is a learning moment and is… life changing.
I’ll be posting every weekday in August. Follow me to benefit from my Adapt in August series and build your capability for adapting to change.
Keep well,
Vicki
My business is helping you with yours…
If you would like further information or to arrange some support in building this skill please don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to helping you build your success your way.
Yours in success,
Vicki
