The Menninger Institute of Kansas City conducted a study to understand what the most important qualities for success and happiness were. After researching, they concluded that the single, most important quality one can develop for success and happiness is – FLEXIBILITY.
Not being flexible means being rigid, automatic, predictable, and unwilling. To be inflexible means to not adapt.
Flexibility is like the difference between bamboo or an oak tree during a storm. An oak tree will not bend therefore often a tree will become torn apart, uprooted and can cause much destruction in the process. Bamboo, on the other hand moves, it gives, it is flexible, so as the storm blows it moves with the storm and when the storm has passed the bamboo remains upright and undisturbed.
Today, more than ever before we live in a time where life and change have sped up at a faster rate increasing, year by year. And at the rate that change is occurring it forces us to scrap our best plans because of a new and unexpected development. If we remain flexible in our thinking and courses of action we can navigate the starting, stopping and unpredictability of life. Change can cause a lot of stress for people who are fixed and rigid in their opinion of how things “should be.”
To move into a more compliant, conciliatory experience in your life, ask yourself the following questions to stay flexible:
1. Does this work?
2. Is it achieving the end result desired?
3. Is this the best course of action? (Decide the best course of action by the results effectiveness in accomplishing and achieving the goal you’ve set.)
4. Knowing what I now know today, is there anything I’m doing if I had to do over I wouldn’t get into again? (Whenever you experience stress, resistance, or lack of success ask this question. And if you tell yourself you wouldn’t get into that particular thing again then make plans to get out of it quickly so you can channel your resources and energies onto a better path for better results.)
Remaining flexible means to be open, alert to new ideas, information, and knowledge that can help you in your life, business, and achievement of your goals.
Being honest with yourself and others can save as much as 80% of our time. To readily tell someone “I made a mistake,” or “I was wrong,” keeps us flexible and on the course of a achieving our goals. Once we admit we’ve taken the wrong course we can flow into a better, more correct course for us. Can you imagine (and I hope you can!) our political landscape where a national politician admits their mistake and blunder? We all watch as choose not to take responsibility, to not admit their mistakes – it takes an enormous amount of time, effort and energy for everyone involved that we go through as they try desperately to cover up. The truth is always the best and easiest path to take. Therefore, it’s also okay to tell someone “I’ve changed my mind.” You may review a previous decision and see it’s not working for you - it’s okay to be real, be courageous and flexible enough to change where you’re headed mid-stream. Be open to reevaluating your goals and objectives and how you’re choosing to get there. Recognize and embrace change as it enters your life.
Napoleon Hill said that “within every setback or obstacle there lies the seed of an equal or greater opportunity.” You may achieve your best success doing things differently than how you’d initially planned to execute them.
In addition, stay alert for synchronistic events that come your way. We get a lot of information easily and flexibly from the universe and from our higher selves. We all do. Some of us listen and act on it a little quicker. It’s a great assist in navigating life. I recently had a fun synchronistic experience while on vacation. I’d just done a radio show opening telling the listeners about a particular author who had an inspiring story of writing and rewriting a book - it took 61 agents looking at the book until one agent 5-1/2 years after the book was written to finally take it. There I was, one week later, on vacation and while we were at the pool we befriended another couple. The woman could not tear herself away from her book. I’m a voracious reader and always looking for my next book to read. She told me you have to get the book, that it was terrific, and said it’s called “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. Well, Kathryn Stockett and “The Help” are the author and book I’d just talked about on my radio show. The reading woman at the pool shared that the book is now a best seller and about to be made into a movie. Naturally. It’s so synchronistic that this book would return to me within a week, so it will be my next book to read. And who knows where that might lead to from there?
Robert Collier wrote:
“Make every thought, every fact that comes into your mind pay you a profit. Make it work and produce for you. Think of things not as they are but as they may be, don’t merely dream but create!”
