My conversation with Dr. Orin Davis was enlightening. As a self-actualization engineer, his life work helps people reach their potential and live happy lives.
We all aspire to reach our highest potential and be happy. As small children, we believe we can achieve anything because we haven’t been told otherwise enough times to deflate our confidence.
But, as we grow older, we consent to people’s ideas and judgments about ourselves. We hold their thoughts as our own, and we learn to be critical and skeptical of our abilities.
Dr. Orin says that although it’s challenging to overcome our fear and doubt, it’s not impossible. Here are the key takeaways from our conversation.
Your skill-set or abilities have nothing to do with your marketing machine. In other words, you can be the best writer in the world, with no one reading and commenting on your blog or purchasing your book. You could be the best painter and have never sold a piece of art. Just because people aren’t buying or reading your work doesn’t mean you’re not good at your job.
- Know your values. Your values help you clarify your intention and measure your success.
- Your experiences, not your talents, make you unique.
- Use your energy to take action instead of worrying. We tend to over-estimate our emotions. Most of the time, things don’t end up being nearly as bad as we thought they would be. When we overthink, we remain stuck.
- Embrace the higher vision that others have of you. There are people in your life who see beyond all your perceived shortcomings. You are your harshest critic. Be patient and compassionate with yourself.
- Remember all your successes instead of focusing on your few failures.
- When the price of success is too high, it may be time to quit.
- As you grow older, your values may change. That’s okay. Honor them and adjust your choices accordingly.
It’s so important that we know our values because they help us make choices in our lives. I recently interviewed wellness coach Nicole Starbuck who has written down her values and makes sure the choices she makes aligns with them. If they don’t align, she makes a choice that does.
You can watch my episode with Dr. Orin here. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Email me or leave a comment below. In the meantime, what are your values? How often do you revisit them?
