In his article, Tanner Christensen defines the ‘Impact trap’.
We all hope to make a difference with our work, be recognised and valued for it. We spend long hours working diligently to achieve what we think is a satisfying level of success without realising that we are falling into the ‘impact trap’.
The author explains that, by being very focused, we sometimes miss opportunities that would make our life happier, healthier and why not, richer. Although these opportunities are here for us to take, we settle for what we have already worked for, in fear of taking risks and losing it all.
‘You become afraid of moving toward any other potential opportunities to grow in fear of losing what you’ve worked so hard to gain’
To avoid the impact trap, we need to define long-term goalsls, and have a different view on what success really means to us. But, above all, we need to be ready to take risks.
If we aren’t willing to take risks then we are relying entirely on having picked the right hill to begin with. That is a tall order given that we pick our starting position when we have the least information about the landscape.
We are often very busy and stressed climbing on the hill that we chose. As we are moving to the top, we see higher more beautiful hills and we start wondering: ‘Could I.. Should I… go back down to the valley and start climbing another peak , even if it seems more difficult?’
According to Tanner Christensen, the answer to these questions lies in picturing where we want to be in 5, 10 or even 20 years and let our vision guides us through our personal /ownHimalayan Chain.
For more information on this post:
http://99u.com/workbook/38953/the-impact-trap-might-be-why-you-never-got-that-promotion
http://99u.com/author/tanner-christensen
