Do You Want a Life of Stagnation or a Life of Growth?

Do you feel like you are in a rut? You get up every morning, go to work, spend your day doing the same thing as the day before, come home, have dinner, watch TV then go to bed.
That’s how I remember it being for my father when I was young. The weekends were different from time to time, but five days out of every seven were the same thing over and over.
Last week I talked about Vishen Lakhiani’s book, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, that our culture has a lot of rules that we are really not obligated to follow.
This week I want to talk about another point that Vishen addresses in his book, growth versus stagnation.

A Life of Stagnation

I view routines as deadly. Sure, there is some value to routines as far as remembering to do certain things. For example, a bedtime routine of brushing your teeth and putting on your jammies before going to bed.
It is when your whole day becomes a routine that they become deadly, like the routine for most working adults that I described in the first paragraph of this post. You move through your day without even having to think about it. That’s stagnation.
Have you ever smelled a stagnant pond? You don’t want your life to stink like that.

The Stagnation is Spreading to Our Kids Too

Our kids’ lives are getting more and more routine too. More and more of the creative classes like art, music and drama are being dropped from schools in the name of shrinking budgets.
Kids are getting into the same kind of routine that adults are in. They go to school, come home, maybe get to play for an hour or so, have dinner, do their homework, and go to bed.
It’s all for the best though, right? It helps prepare them for a life of stagnation as an adult.

Live a Life of Growth Instead

You don’t have to live a life of stagnation, even though it appears to be one of our cultural rules. Like I said last time, it’s OK to break those rules.
Even though you are at work, there is still plenty of time during your day to do something different. I used to go to a bookstore during my lunch hour back when I had a job. A library can work just as well. Find books on different topics that interest you and get your mind working.
Instead of turning the TV on in the evening, do something. Start a hobby that you can work on every evening to get that creative energy flowing again. When you do, you will feel so much more alive than you do just sitting in front of your TV.

Start a Business

I have found that building an online business in network marketing has been a very rewarding experience. I am continually learning new skills, further developing existing ones, and meeting new people.
I started my business while I still had a job. I did exactly what I said above. I went to the bookstore during lunch about once a week. The other four days I sat in my car during my lunch hour and either read something to learn a new skill or wrote content for my website. I would write with pen and paper then type it in the evening after I got home.
During the evenings I worked on my website, creating pages, typing the blog posts that I wrote during my lunch hour, answering emails, and promoting my website.

Growth Requires a Different Mindset

I read a lot of things where people who are doing similar things to what I do, blogging and selling products online, and they talk about how overwhelming it is to have to learn all these things. The same thing applies to any business that you may start.
It’s like you’re a kid just starting school and your teach walks in and lists all of the things that you have to learn in the next 13 years – spelling, reading, punctuation, grammar, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, trigonometry, ancient history, European history, American history, and so on and on and on. It’s too much. It’s overwhelming.
When you get overwhelmed, you are more likely to quit and head back to that life of stagnation. It’s just easier that way.

Choose to Be Excited Instead of Overwhelmed

I recommend a different mindset, one that doesn’t lead to overwhelm. Just like in school, you don’t learn everything on day one. You just learn the first steps – adding and reading simple words. When you have them down, you move on to the next step. Building your business can be the same way.
Are you one of the growing number of people looking for something different? Does the idea of having a job and following someone else’s rules not work for you anymore? Turning to network marketing can give you a new level of freedom that you can start building while you still have the income of your current job.
Taking advantage of the internet and new technologies you can build organizations that span the globe, yet be able to work from the comfort and convenience of your own home.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t always easy. There is no guarantee that you will make any money in network marketing. It can be a rocky path mixed with ups and downs. Growth always in. I think if you keep the proper mindset, excitement about learning new things instead of overwhelm, and keep going, then just about anyone can make it work.
I am creating a program to help people build their network marketing business online the way that I have.

Resources

This post, like the last one, was inspired by Vishen Lakhiani’s The Code of the Extraordinary Mind. It’s a great book.

Your Turn

Are you up for leaving the stagnation behind and creating a lifestyle of growth? Leave your comments below and please share this post with your followers on social media.
Thanks.