Rapid Self-Development

There is a concept in coaching called seed planting. It means that it takes time for new ideas and suggestions to be embraced. There are clients that take hold of a new idea and run with it, some take a little more time to allow the idea to grow while others can take years before the idea sprouts. Still some clients will never grasp the idea. It will simply lay dormant. It doesn't really matter what the client does with the idea. The purpose is to plant the seed and the client can do with it what they will. Sometimes the idea just needs time to germinate.

A counselor once told me that not to make a decision is a decision. She said not to choose was a choice. I thought she was nuts and went on with my life. It was five years later when I was in the middle of a situation where I was avoiding a decision that her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I literally said out loud, "I get it." It took years for that seed to germinate in my brain until one day it sprouted and grew into a concept I understood. I was finally ready to get it. I wasn't able to hear it before, but with time, I had evolved enough so the concept made sense. New ideas can take time to get used to. When we first hear the idea we may not be ready for it. That is fine. When you are ready the idea will sprout and grow and be there for you.

The other side of this is not to force your ideas and suggestions onto other people. By all means share them, but leave it at that. Seed planting isn't an aggressive act; it is gentle and done with love and compassion. All you can do is plant the idea. What happens to it is up to the individual and what they are ready to hear at that very moment. The idea may sprout right away or it may take years. That isn't your concern. Your job is to plant the seed and move on.

Everyone is at different places in their lives. Sometimes you will understand the new idea right away and perhaps even take action on it in the moment. At other times it will take a while. Don't beat yourself up when you don't get something right away. It just means the idea is in germination. When you are ready the idea will sprout and grow and be right there to support you. Until then don't worry about it and go on with the ideas you are ready for. There will be plenty of idea seeds sprouting at any given time to keep you busy.

As we grow, we do so in fits and starts, lurching forward then back, sometimes looking more like clowns than seekers.

Winston Churchill wrote: "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on as though nothing has happened."

We humans, in searching for success and happiness, have several great loves. One is the love of discovering new things. New places... new people... new ideas... they fascinate us.

We also love finding new ways to solve problems. If we've been suffering the indignities and inconveniences of a long-standing problem, we have an unquenchable urge to find what's causing the discomfort and fix it.

Unfortunately, an equally strong drive within our psyche is the compulsion to keep things from changing.

We love variety and change, but we also love predictability. When things start shifting in our world, we get uncomfortable; uncertain; unsure what to do next.

So with our left foot we strike out to seek change, while at the same time our right foot drags along behind us, trying with all its might to remain planted in one spot.

Often, as Churchill points out, we unquestioningly follow that urge to maintain status quo. Why? Well, it's the same reason we continue to do anything automatically -- habit.

Then how do we break the grip of habit? How do we escape the gravity well of inertia?

It's the same way we change any habit.

First step: become acutely aware of what we're doing. No habit can operate properly when we draw back the curtains of inattention.

Have you had a realization about yourself or the way you live your life? Maybe you don't want to let it drift away and become lost to you, the same way countless realizations have done before.

Then make a big production of it. Fasten your attention on it. Roll it around in your mind, play with it and explore the implications.

Don't let old habits rob you of the treasure you've found.

And that's exactly how you can stop yourself from stumbling over a truth and then continuing on as though it never happened.