Have you ever gotten really good at something and grazed at the mountain top?  While it’s OK to recognize your own accomplishments, it’s not good to linger too long at the top of one particular mountain.  Some of the reasons why people graze (sounds gentler than become complacent) are related to work-family balance, medical issues, general stress or perhaps it just feels right at the time.

As a young working mother, my personal focus was on providing for my family financially, developing a career and raising our daughters so that they would be prepared for the world.  Once the first two were satisfied and remained in a state of maintenance, I was freed up to assure my daughters were well supported in their teen years.  At that time, I also got involved in technical communities at a local and nationally while developing organizational and leadership skills.  So, while I was moving forward professionally I was doing so cautiously with the emergency brake on.

I tried numerous tactics to lift the emergency brake which includes several areas of self-study to propel myself career wise.  But, it seems that even my best plans were foiled by self-sabotage and my great ability to lean towards other distractions (life happens).  I took lots of time and thought deeply about my passions and the parts of my job that I enjoy.  It all came down to this: I LOVE Data, Connecting Data and business’ and connecting People via Technical Communities.

I was excited that I had come to the conclusion of some plausible career paths. But, It appeared that my established strategies of writing goals, envisioning, attacking them with brute force and/or tying them to other people or commitments no longer worked.  I obviously needed a new set of tools to reach my full potential.  I reached out to friends and mentors for feedback and later decided that I needed a dynamic coach.

In my journey of finding a new set of tools to remove the brakes from my “OK Plateau”, I came across the following articles/videos/quotes that resonated with me.  I’m sharing these resources in the hopes that I help someone else or I receive some feedback that will propel me.

Break Through Your “OK Plateau” By Studying Yourself Failing ~ Joshua Foer

How to Re-Program Your Subconscious Mind to Get What You Want ~ Marie Forleo

Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders (TedWomen Dec 2010)

To Succeed, Forget Self-Esteem

#IgniteNYC: When Failing Is Cool http://nyconvergence.com/2012/09/ignitenyc-when-failing-is-cool-ignitenyc.html#prclt-R2ymbxU4

 When you become brave enough to be silent, the answers you seek will finally reveal themselves ~cherylrichardson.com