My Own Personal Gravity

My upcoming book, Defy Gravity, focuses on finding and ditching Business Gravity, aka the status quo beliefs and corporate legends that prevent us from growing. 

We also have Personal Gravity -  those beliefs and behaviors that limit us in our personal lives. Personal Gravity runs rampant in all our lives, and that's expected.  It's part of being human. We learn from our experiences and hang onto that which we know to be true. Experiences create patterns which become habits - in our thoughts and our behaviors. When those habits no longer serve us -  they become Personal Gravity.

With the help of a new friend, I unearthed yet another aspect of my own Personal Gravity this past week. It's limiting my communication skills and frankly, that Gravity made my new friend pretty angry, the very last thing I would ever want to do. 

I've always been told I'm a great communicator.  I am an open book.  I will share anything and everything about myself to anyone I meet. I've  always been like that.  Some people initially take my openness as a me, me, me focus, but once they get to know me they learn it's just my way of sharing experiences and lessons learned to help others.

This week I was told I was a lousy communicator.  To be more precise, I was told I was a lousy listener.  That hurt. My initial reaction, steeped in Personal Gravity I might add, was to assume that the other person was mistaken.  That was my hurt feelings taking control of my reasoning and creating Personal Gravity.

But I didn't let that Personal Gravity win.  I paid attention to the feedback,  recognized the truth within that feedback -  and I'm now committed to changing the way I listen. 

I've been exploring 'listening' within my personal self for the last few days.  I've discovered that I do listen, but I also get so excited about the conversation that I jump in before the other person has the chance to finish their thoughts. That's not exactly a great communication skill -  now is it? It's a Gravity habit that needs to change, yesterday!

My Personal Gravity (aka I'm a good communicator) tried to prevent me from taking this hard look at my listening skills - but I'm ignoring it.  I'm ditching that Gravity and am committed to improving my listening and communication skills. Thankfully for my new friend, I'm usually a pretty fast learner. 

But sometimes it's not easy. Sometimes it takes a village to ditch our Personal Gravity, especially the beliefs and behavior patterns that are so deeply entrenched. 

So if you chat with me on the phone, run into me at a convention or in my favorite Starbucks,  do me a favor.  Kick me in the butt  if I'm not a good listener!  I'm now focused on soaring away from this habit - and asking for all of your help along the way!  It's easier to ditch Gravity with the lift of friends!

Thanks in advance for your support!