A mind shift might be best described as a supersized ah-ha moment.
We are prone to having ah-ha moments when we are exposed to inspirational and motivational speakers and their material. We get lathered up about some new piece of information that feels like it is going to change our lives for the better and forever.
The reality is that an ah-ha moment is just that, a moment in time. It is most often fleeting for the majority of us who experience them. We are awakened to the new material for the time that we remain focused on it, and with so many people having short attention spans these days; we might forget about it all too quickly.
We feel good about our ah-ha moments until we don’t anymore. There are countless inspirational and motivational speakers who are all too eager to help us have an ah-ha moment, and for some it comes with a hefty investment.
In 2016, the self-help industry was valued at $9.9B with the expectation that it will hit $13B in 2022. This is just one indicator that our society is obsessed with having an ah-ha moment or a mind shift experience.
A mind shift is considered a deeper experience that typically has a more long-lasting effect than the ah-ha moment. They seem to be rare and elusive for many people who are unwilling to open their minds and hearts to new ways of thinking and ultimately, acting.
The mind shift experience requires a serious commitment to seeing things in new ways. The old ways will only give us the old results. Those results might be harmful to ourselves and to those who are around us.
An example of an ah-ha moment might be when we suddenly realize that saying a certain phrase or word might be hurtful to others. While we might stop saying it for a short time, if we have not examined the underlying thoughts that created saying that word, nothing will change.
Likewise, a mind shift change might appear to come on suddenly, The difference comes when we reflect on the new thought and examine it fully. Only when we go deep with it can we decide to replace an old paradigm with a new one.
Both the ah-ha moments and the mind shifts have a place in our professional and personal development experiences. One serves to give us hope about how things might be if we choose to invest in them long term, while the other literally reprogram our minds so that we do things differently as a result of it.
For me, the ah-ha moments can be likened to watching the fireworks at a July 4 celebration, while the mind shift is like watching the grand finale. We enjoy the fireworks that lead up to the finale, we remember the finale with all of its sights and sounds.
Professional and personal development is focused on bringing about change, more specifically change in our behaviors. An ah-ha moment might change them for the short term, while a mind shift will change them for the long term.
The key to successful professional and personal development comes with our ability to sustain the changes for the long term.
When we have a thought burst into our minds to stop smoking or to eat healthily, we get excited about it. When we have thoughts that come into our minds that cause us to shift the way in which we think about smoking or eating, we are far more likely to engage in new behaviors.
When we commit to our own professional and personal growth, we want to get the most return on our investment.
It seems to me that the mind shift has a more significant return on investment both professionally and personally. I invite you to find out for yourself.
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