Trying To Get Ahead Might Be The Very Thing Holding You Back

Written by: Bronwen Sciortino, Senior Level Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

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There’s a part of life that we seem to continuously get wrong. We push and pull and force ourselves to keep moving forward, often through sheer will alone. It’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. We’re exhausted and our body aches. And to top it off, we often find ourselves wishing that we could steal a few more hours of sleep.

Life is noisy and busy and chaotic, and our mind is often fuzzy, making it hard to think straight. Most of us don’t even know what thinking straight looks like anymore – we dash from thing to thing to thing, never really knowing whether it’s good for us or right for us.

We literally crash our way through life.

It leaves us confused and unsure of where we turn to next … and we’re left in a ‘hope/crash’ cycle that doesn’t ever really seem to work for us.

It’s the chaos that keeps us trying to push onwards.

When things get really out of control, all we want to do is get through it so we can get out of the noise. We want to put our feet up, relax and take some time to breathe, but the world is moving too quickly and it seems like our time never comes.

If you’re wading across a fast-running river and you get knocked off your feet into the rapidly moving water, you don’t turn around and try to swim upstream to get yourself out. You turn your feet in the direction of the current, lie back and let the water move you along until you can move off to the side, re-orient yourself and then work out which direction you need to go next.

But somehow we forget to do that in everyday life.

Instead, we turn upstream and try with all our might to get ourselves ‘ahead’ because we’ve been fed a belief that only then will we be free to do some things for ourselves.

It takes a backward step to see things more clearly.

None of us want to believe that a backward step is what we need; we’re too attuned to ‘backwards’ being associated with ‘failure.’ But somewhere along the way we must have taken a wrong turn; we have to have stepped in the wrong direction somewhere in order for us to be in the chaos we’re in now.

What we don’t realise is that taking a ‘wrong’ step isn’t always a terrible thing and that a backward step isn’t the ‘wrong’ step it has been made out to be.

The problem is this: we’re too attuned to failure being a dirty word. Worse, we’re far too ready to pronounce things a failure… when really it’s nothing more than a set of information that gives us everything we need to choose our next step.

Sometimes all it takes is taking a step to create space between yourself and what is going on, so that you can see things more clearly. Once you’ve got clarity around a situation, it’s so much easier to decide what your next step will be, what direction you need to take it in and when the perfect time to step forwards will be.

Getting ahead isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Nobody really knows what getting ahead truly looks like.

Mostly, this is because almost all of us never experience getting ahead in a true form. Unless you know what you want, getting ahead is really about chasing the things that society says are currently worthwhile. What happens if you chase the things, tick the boxes, get all the ‘right’ stuff – education, car, job, partner, house, clothes, promotions and the list goes on – but then tomorrow the world decides that everything you’ve collected isn’t cool anymore, and we’re all now chasing something else?

Starting again, and again, and again is exhausting! But we’ve somehow created a world where we accept that this is the only way we can keep up with what we’re expected to achieve.

In today’s world of 24/7 connection, where we’re exposed to tens of thousands of pieces of information a day, how do you know that what you’re being told is what you really want – let alone what you really need?

The rollercoaster doesn’t stop, but you can choose to get off anyway.

It might feel like you’re stuck playing the game the way everyone says you have to play, but you are allowed to step outside your life conditioning and choose to do things your own way.

In fact, doing so is the fastest way to get where you want to go.

There is no getting ‘ahead’ or ‘behind’; there is simply stepping in the direction that takes you towards the things that are true to who you are.

So, take a deep breath, take a step backwards and then use the space to get the information you need about what is right for you. What do you need right now, for you to be OK? What would you like to experience in your life? What’s one simple thing you can do that will take you towards having that thing?

What can you do every day that will support you having the life you really, really want?

Once you’ve got the information you need, work out your next step and then let yourself take it. It doesn’t matter if your step is different to others – it’s yours and that’s the important thing.

If you want some help finding different ways to create clarity in your life, you can access more information in the articles and videos in my FREE email series. Simply click here to start you on your way.

Bronwen Sciortino is a Simplicity Expert, an internationally renowned author, and a professional speaker, and you can follow her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Read more from Bronwen!

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Bronwen Sciortino, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Bronwen Sciortino is an International Author and Simplicity Expert who spent almost two decades as an award-winning executive before experiencing a life changing event that forced her to stop and ask the question ‘What if there’s a better way to live?’

Embarking on a journey to answer this question, Bronwen developed a whole new way of living – one that teaches you to challenge the status quo and include the power of questions in everyday life.

Gaining international critical acclaim and 5-star awards for her books and online programs, Bronwen spends every day teaching people that there is an easy, practical and simple pathway to creating a healthy, happy AND highly successful life.

Sourced globally for media comment as an expert and working with corporate programs, conference platforms, retreats, professional mentoring and in the online environment, Bronwen teaches people how easy it is to live life very differently.