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How To: Move Past Personal Barriers to Success

Christine Laperriere, Executive Director & Lead Coach of the Advancement Centre, shares how to bring insights into action:

1) Don’t take things personally

2) “Groan and get over it”

3) Something might be better around the corner

1. Don’t take things personally: Carol mentions that one of her keys to success was to not take things personally. So often, it’s easy to read the comments or behaviours of another individual as being targeted and directed as us as an attack. That said, just allowing each person to be who he or she is means that however they behave doesn’t revolve around you personally. Do you have a colleague or team member that has made you feel bad recently? Is it possible that you have taken this experience personally?

2. “Groan and get over it”: Carol mentions that a lesson she learned early in her career—rather than “grin and bear it” she learned to “groan and get over it.” Her point to us is that sometimes people internalize things that don’t work out but it’s so important to know how to let things go and move forward without carrying a grudge. Do you have a grudge you are carrying these days? What is it that prevents you from simply letting it go? Instead of “bearing it,” is it possible to “get over it” and move forward in a more positive and powerful way today?

3. Something better might be around the corner: Carol talks about how often in her career a major setback could be considered upsetting or ground to just give up. That said, she explained that so many times, that setback lead to something better right around the corner. Often times, we know this fact to be true but we don’t see it when we are experiencing the painful setback. In your past, what major setbacks did you have? What great things came as a result of those setbacks? Where can you see this pattern in your own life and career? What setbacks are you facing today? Is it possible that something better might be right around the corner?