I recently changed gyms, my old gym was a block away from my home but I had reached a point where I just didn’t feel excited or compelled to work out anymore. Which meant that on the odd occasion when I did go, I did not push myself and basically rushed through everything so I could leave as quickly as possible. I decided to try out a new gym, which is a 10-minute bus ride. The first couple of times I noticed an amazing energy, everyone was serious about their fitness, yes there is friendly banter but my goodness it feels like a high proportion of the gym members are on top of their game. Since joining this gym, I have noticed that I am much more inspired to work out and challenged by the people around me.

My disengaged feeling was a strong signal that I needed to step out of my current environment and push myself a little harder. We get so comfortable until something occurs which either threatens our current situation or prompts us to question our motives.

Sometimes it is easier to stay on the path that we are already on. It is comfortable, rewarding, and in the case of our careers it not only affords us status but also becomes a large part of our identity. As we grow more and more successful, we inspire others, get used to a particular life style and loose sight of what we truly want for our lives and what we enjoy.

In Robert S. Kaplan’s article on “Reaching Your Potential”, he shares 4 telltale signs which may indicate that you are not on your right path:

1. You start to feel that your career is stagnating or regret over your career direction.
2. You feel frustrated by your career progress, although outwardly you appear to be doing very well.
3. You are not using your strengths.
4. You are unhappy but you don’t want to let anyone down.

Much like world-class athletes, successful leaders must commit to a lifetime of realizing their potential. The key to getting back on your path is to reconnect with how you personally define success and then determining which path will get you there. I would love to hear from you, how do you know you are coasting and what steps have you taken to find your right path?

Tags: Coasting, Course Correcting, Fulfillment, Potential

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 1:27 am and is filed under Leadership Effectiveness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.