“I want to experience more fulfillment.” This is one of the most common desires I hear, over and over, in my coaching practice. There’s no final destination on the quest for fulfillment. Fulfillment is aliveness. In our work and relationships, once we discover fulfillment we aren’t promised it forever. As sure as the seasons change, we grow in our experience and what we want and need from our professional and personal life will change too.
In her book,
Emotional Agility, Susan David shares the Teeter Totter Principle and how it serves wholeness and fulfillment. The Teeter Totter Principle is the idea of balancing the sweet spot in which challenge
and mastery are in a state of creative tension. For us to discover and rediscover this sweet spot, we must overcome complacency without getting overwhelmed. Stay
actively engaged, evaluating and recalibrating along the way.
This week, I'm sharing three areas of focus using the Teeter Totter Principle on your path to discovering more fulfillment:
Evaluate where you are, now.
Overall, do I find joy and satisfaction in what I’m doing?
Does this draw on my strengths?
If I’m being completely honest with myself, do I believe that I or the situation can really be a success?
Breakthrough the plateau of your comfort zone.
Living at our edge requires us to be willing to leave our comfort zone, adopt a beginner’s mind, a curiosity and openness to question our competencies.
Where am I feeling underchallenged?
How could I expand the breadth (of what I am doing) or the depth (how well I am doing it)?
Where am I experiencing over competence (you can do it with your eyes closed)?
What bold action could I take to intentionally fail past my goal?
Get clarity on what you are moving toward.
Identify clear and challenging, achievable goals you are pursuing not because you think you have to or because you’ve been told to, but because you want to. It’s important to you and in alignment with your values.
Does this reflect what’s important to me (my values)?
As we prepare for a new season in September, I invite you to check-in. What is true for you, now? Spend some time answering these questions. Let your answers guide what’s up next! As always, stay open, brave, and on-purpose.
