Mommy DeLight
enlightened motherhood, among other things – thought-provoking things to think about… :)
how to reach “peak” potential?
This was my first blog post, written on March 22, 2009 – I didn’t edit much, and this was so cool to find! I just found all of my old blog posts from before I switched here to wordpress… Stay tuned for more! There’s some good stuff in here!
I am reading “Peak” by Chip Conley, as extra credit for my management class, and boy am I glad that I chose to take on the extra reading assignment, as it has been the most influential book I’ve read in a while. Sometimes, I have to put it down and go check out a website, or add a book to my shopping cart on Amazon, or give a review for a product, or service that I found exceptional.
One general idea in the book, inspired by Abraham Maslow, is to go above and beyond, to satisfy every need from the bottom up, until things happen that are better than could be dreamed of. Who’s needs? Anyone’s, from customers to employees, to your own personal needs. I can’t explain it like Mr. Conley. You’ve got to buy the book. Seriously.
Also, Mr. Conley’s book Rebel Rules – I put it down after reading just three pages, proceeding to work for two hours on my websites, new business ideas, and support companies that I appreciate (euphemism for shopping). Basically, the guy writes in such a way that you want to get up and start your own business, call him and have a conversation, share your thoughts, and have the power to do all of these things.
The book, as well as Conley himself, is quite inspired by a guy named Abraham Maslow. Google him. You’ll learn a lot.
Here is the quote that has inspired me the most thus far, found on page 7 of Peak, by Chip Conley… “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization…. It refers to man’s desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tendency for him to become actually in what he is potentially: to become everything one is capable of becoming.” – Abraham Maslow
WOW! Let me just repeat this one part: “to become ACTUALLY in what (s)he is POTENTIALLY: to become everything one is capable of becoming.” WOW. How amazing would that be? I would love to reach my full potential, and I know that I can one day. It is so frustrating to know, every day, that I am not operating at the highest level I could be, and that I am the only one holding myself back. Ugh! What to do, how to get to the top of the pyramid, live up to my full potential, self-actualized and expressed??? To be at this point, according to Maslow, there are four steps in the pyramid of needs, which need to be satisfied first, before self actualization. That’s where I’m at, slowly making my way up through the steps. And I also believe that everyone’s pyramid is different. Look up “pyramid of needs” and you’ll get it.
I have been seeing a psychologist for diagnostic testing, basically the stuff worried mom’s take their kids to when they think they have ADD. It included an IQ test, which I have yet to see the fully comprehensive results of, but did get to go over the initial scores with the doc. The results were not surprising, yet impressive, frustrating, and disappointing at the same time. I’m in the 99th+ percentile in language and verbal (reading and writing, word comprehension, spelling) which was not surprising. The impressive part was when the doc said as he was explaining my percentile score to me, “That’s way fucking up there. You could write a best-seller…. No, seriously.” That definitely stroked my ego a bit. But then, there was a “But, this is what I’m worried about.” Although none of my percentile scores were below the 88%, nothing was close to the scores I got on the language and verbal tests. He thinks it’s related to motivation and an attention problem, but it was frustrating enough to hear, and I got out of there as fast as I could. More to come. Have to run, I didn’t realize what time it is!!!
Mar 26, 2:22 PM
***Back to the present time: I got my IQ results but don’t remember them. I do remember that I was just below “genius” level… 🙂 Cool.
As for my slow crawl up the pyramid – still going, taking steps forwards, taking steps backwards, learning and living my life in-between. I’m too young to know my whole person at this point… Only time will tell! Until whenever, I’ll just BE.
PEACE OUT!
Mommy DeLight 