Nichole Thoughts

Hi everyone!

This past week I have been working on my house. I plan on renting it out and I have been a little preoccupied with that along with a few other good real estate things I have going on. So while I may not have anything too exciting for you I wanted to share a little bit of what has been going on and some things going through the old brain bank the past week or so....

I am reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I've really been focused on a part where the author, Stephen R. Covey wrote about different life stages we go through: being dependent, moving onto being independent, and ultimately (hopefully) working towards successful interdependence in our life relationships.  I’m sure this is not necessarily new to anyone. But I started to think about these stages in relation to my life and how I behave and think. 

So basically that has been on my mind, and it brings me to my thoughts this evening while mowing the lawn (lawn mowing always equals good think time for me). I started thinking about all that I need to get done with the house as well as short and long term goals. I really got thinking about the who I am as a person and the way I act. I think of myself, or strive to be, an ‘independent’ person. With that being said I am still trying to figure myself out. 

I want to do things myself just to ensure I get them done without owing somebody something ….. but that isn't always the most effective way to operate.

A little about me. I have a great family, a family that has helped me more than I care to admit. This is something I honestly sometimes feel guilty about. They all work their jobs, have their lives, and still make time to help me a lot in my various endeavors. Many of the things they help me with I literally could not do alone, even though I would like to think I can, it just isn't always the case. This is a mental battle I struggle with a lot. 

There are some things I really just cannot do alone. 

Human beings are very powerful and I believe we are capable of so much but obviously there are limits.

While I might be able to accomplish a lot alone if I put my efforts together with those who have the same goal we clearly have the potential to accomplish so much more. This is difficult for me to remember sometimes.

I’m going to try and swing this back around to how I’m feel this relates to work and how we relate to one another in professional and personal settings. Many of us work in very competitive industries. A lot of the pressures I have seen are to prove you are better than the next person, a mentality of “do what you have to do in order to get ahead” is often prevalent in these competitive and even more traditionally non-competitive industries. Not everyone operates this way but I do think society puts a lot of pressure on being number one and go go go Do What you HAVE to do to get it done! 

I believe in competing with myself and doing my best. I'm not saying I don't appreciate challenging and pushing myself.

But success is taking on a different definition for me. I will consider myself successful when I work effectively with other like-minded people in my industry, and in life. I want to surround myself and create interdependence with people who have great integrity and a passion for what they do professionally and personally. 

I do not believe these people are in short supply! I think we just need to reach out to one another more let go of some of the independence we have clung to and be proud of our successes being interdependent and allowing others to pull some of the weight with us or join us in a common goal.

Thank you for reading that rant, there are many more items jogging through my little mind but I will get back to my goals and start working on my next green post for this week!

I hope everyone is having a great day.

Until the next time....