I saw a great quote today by Tom Robbins.

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”

I thought that this was exactly the point that I try to make to people, (but said so much better than I ever would have!!) So many times we get caught up in “the way we do it.”

Have you ever gone to church or a had a meeting you attend regularly? Have you noticed that everyone seems to always sit in the same seat? I am one of those that thinks it is fun to move around and throw everyone off.

We have a management meeting every Tuesday and my managers always come in and sit in “their” seat. If I get there early enough, quite often I will purposely pick to sit in one of their chairs just to throw the whole room off. We are creatures of habit. Most of us like to sleep on the same side of bed, have our coffee the same way and drive our car on the same road every day.

Sometimes those regular schedules or habits provide us with stability, other times it will kill us. There is another phrase I like that says,

“If you always do, what you have always done, you will always be, what you have always been.”

We should always be in a state of growth; personal, professional and spiritual. We should never be comfortable with the way things are because when we become comfortable, we stop moving towards greatness. How does one achieve greatness?? I think it is by staying committed to the decisions you have made for your life.

So many of us decide to do things (me included) and when the going gets tough, we give up.  I am sure many of you are like me and decided to “be healthier” this new year.  Sometimes at 6 am when I would rather be in bed than working out, it is hard to be committed.  When that chocolate brownie looks better than my salad, it is hard to be committed.  So, we must be flexible in our approach, sometimes I get up at 6:10 but I still get up, sometimes I eat a bite of that chocolate brownie…flexible, but still committed.

The same is true in business.  As a company we know our anchor, “To empower Direct Sellers worldwide with the best software and customer service in the industry.”  We have to constantly be flexible in how we view our “best practices.” Are there things we are doing that are outdated? Undoubtedly there are. We recently made the decision to not send out a printed manual. It seemed that as quickly as we got a new version printed up, it was outdated. While it is uncomfortable for us to give up this old familiar way of doing things, we must if we are going to be a state of the art company.  If we know what we are committed to, we can strive towards it.

Take the time today to examine your life and your position in your company and see if there is anything that you are really comfortable with. If so, look at it critically and find out if there is anything about it that is hindering your future growth. You might have found your sweet spot, but even sweet milk can go sour if it sits for too long.

Comfort and stability are good things but so are growth and flexibility. The balanced individual and company are able to create enough comfort and stability so that maximum growth and flexibility can be achieved. (over and over again).