Knowing a tomato isn’t a fruit helps, but won’t be enough.
Some people have this intrinsic yearning for purpose deep in their core that they are not even fully aware of...yet it calls to them secretly and can only really be seen in their doing, not necessarily in their speaking.
“Knowledge is knowing a tomato isn’t a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
I am not even positive if my clients would agree with me on that, but I know for sure that my clients do not call me saying, “I have a purpose and I am not stopping until I get there.” Nor are they the ones that have known right from the beginning how this journey of theirs would even go. Yet seemingly in-tune with their instincts, they keep doing the next right thing, or whatever felt right.
That is something I can relate to. I did not set out years ago with this passion for a purposeful life, but in hindsight, I have always had a calling for it. I just didn’t consciously know it.
What I see now is that even when it is an unconscious purpose, it can still turn out just as your heart desires. You just need to keep moving your feet. It’s why just having the knowledge, is not always enough.
“Knowledge is knowing a tomato isn’t a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
Okay, so what does wisdom actually mean?
Wisdom - the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge and good judgement.
It’s the doing part. That’s the part that makes the biggest impact. It isn’t enough to just know that the tomato is not a fruit, but what you do with that knowledge that matters and can change your daily life.
Prospective clients often say to me, “I don’t know that I need any coaching. I know exactly what to do. I am not like those other people that are floundering around trying to figure out what to do next, I actually know. I am just not always doing it.” From there, they can list many reasons or justifications as to why they are not doing it, yet no way to create meaningful change.
This is actually my sweet spot. The clients I work with are successful. In some cases, VERY successful. And all of them know on at least some level, what needs to get done. I believe that’s because I mainly work with business owners who probably would not have begun that journey, had they not felt confident about their knowledge in the field.
The knowing what to do, is your why. It is why you chose to do this...even if it feels overwhelming and extremely difficult in this moment.
The difference between prospective clients that choose to work with me or choose not to is in how they feel about themselves. If you are still screaming I got this, you are right, this is not our time together. Yet. But if you can admit that while you know what to do, and don’t know why you’re not doing it consistently, we have a place to start. A place that enables us to begin designing what is next.
Because that’s how it works. In order to create real, sustainable change, we need to be able to look critically at ourselves, acknowledge where we are vulnerable, then be courageous enough to admit it to just one other person. Just one. That has been my experience. If you are able to admit all of that to yourself and just one other person, you are officially ready to begin transitioning from knowing to doing. It is also when you can begin moving from unconsciously wanting purpose in your life, to actually designing a purposeful life.
It does not have to be as grand as it sounds. It simply means that you are humble enough to create change so that your inside aligns with your outside. Or in other words, that how you feel on in the inside is the same as how you are acting on the outside, in your daily life and with others.
What I have witnessed is that the longer you keep this under wraps, fearful of not being able to pull it off, the longer you will remain where you are...knowing that a tomato is not a fruit, yet still uncertain about what exactly to do with that.
If you are scratching your head right now wondering which place you are in, that’s a perfect start! We do have to start somewhere. Keep thinking and keep looking. I believe that if we are still long enough, the answers will come! So be still for a little bit this weekend, and see what comes to you! The answers may surprise you…
Remember: If you change one thing, it can change everything.