Making Room for Who You Will Become

Clarifying your vision and reaching for it can be empowering and exhilarating. You have finally uncovered what you truly want and you may even have a plan to get there, but your journey is unlikely to be all smooth sailing. You must let go of who you used to be to make room for the person you are becoming. It requires being vulnerable, humble and courageous. It means letting go of old habits and creating new ones, trying on new behaviors and releasing the thoughts, environments or people that have held you back.

You will need to redefine who you are in very meaningful ways. For example, you may change your personal definition of success and leadership. When you ask yourself “Who am I and what do I stand for?” your answer may change from “I am a leader who does whatever it takes to get the job done” to “I am a leader who empowers his people to fulfill their highest potential.” The latter requires a whole new set of tools, perspectives and behaviors. You will need to learn new ways to motivate, inspire and reward your teams. Negotiating these changes is likely to feel uncomfortable, and you may want to continue leaning on old, unproductive behaviors to achieve results.

However, letting go of the old ways makes room for new ways of doing things that better support you. Be brave and lean on your commitment to becoming the person you want to be. Albert Einstein understood that growth means being able to consider new ideas, even if they contradict the ones you believe to be true.

Becoming the person you want to be requires letting go of habits that no longer serve you and embracing new perspectives and ideas. You need to release the old to make room for the new.