Self-improvement is your own personal elevator. As you rise to the top you will have to let some people off. When you focus on self-improvement you are always in transition. As you rise, you must let go of those relationships that no longer serve you and the new person you are becoming.
If you don’t, you will end up feeling stuck which eventually robs you of energy and happiness. Look at your relationships. Ask yourself, “Who do they have me becoming?” And then ask yourself, “Is this acceptable?”
If the answer is no, let that person off your relational elevator so you may continue your self-improvement and rise to greater heights. In your personal world, this is easier to do. But if you take the same approach to self-improvement in the business world you will discover some benefits even though things are more structured, and you have less input into who you are going to be working with.
In my personal business coaching practice in The Woodlands and Houston, I have watched my clients rise on the relational elevator when they focus on their own self-improvement.
Interestingly, the problem a client has is never a lack of knowledge or expertise in what they are expected to do. The challenge is always in the relationships with the people they must interact with and be part of a team.
In business, more often than not, you do not have a choice as to who is going to be part of your relational elevator. But you do have a choice as to what to do about it. You can either try to change them, which almost never works, or you can focus on your own self-improvement and go to work on yourself.
Very often this is all it takes. But if it doesn’t work, at least you are better for the experience and better positioned to move forward because you chose to focus on your own self-improvement.