Think like a chameleon!

‘I don’t get it,’ said one of our clients this week, ‘what does it mean, to adapt and change to suit each situation, yet stay the same? It doesn’t make sense’

This is often one of the most challenging concepts for us to get our heads round and I must say that when Jo first explained this to me, it took a while for it to properly ‘click’ for me too. Now, I really love this concept and use this a lot in in my daily life. What it comes down to is all about how we own congruence which is one of the 5 Progressfull Principles

The 5 Progressfull Principles (Showing Up, Choosing Confidence, Being Playful, Owning Congruence, Welcoming Feedback) help us deal with the wonkiness, flaws and imperfections - which unless we have had an excellent executive coach or a brilliant therapist - we won’t know how to turn around to make progress. Progressfull does this by making the activities, and what we go through in typical executive coaching or therapy, accessible to everyone!

The 5 Progressfull Principles - are like curated self care - they not only turn around our wonkiness, imperfections and flaws but also enable us to live life on our own terms - holding our ground, facing any challenge that comes our way - head on; supporting, affirming and encouraging ourselves to be the best version of ourselves; enjoying life, and its adventures with a childlike curiosity, determination and wonder at what is possible, together with a belief in our ability to thrive; living a life of harmony - between our internal and external worlds, being in the driving seat of our own life; engaging with diverse perspectives and feedback conversations with confidence and curiosity - all so we can release our true potential

Given you spend your entire life in your mind – the 5 Progressfull™ Principles help you – make sure it’s a great place to be!

This is really helpful because there is so much talk today about ‘how to be happy’ yet very little practical guidance on how to do that. Once we have got past the ‘get healthy, get a partner, and get rich quick schemes’ a lot of it seems to come down to ‘know your purpose’ and ‘live in the present’. But if you are like me, the thing you may ask yourself is – OK, but how on earth do I do that?

For some of us, this is as far as it goes – we put this into the ‘nice idea but too difficult to be bothered category’ and get on with our overwhelmed and unfulfilled ‘normal’ lives. For others, we may be a bit more determined or a bit more fed up so might try a bit harder and maybe listen to a few podcasts, watch a few videos, and even go on a retreat

Well, stop right there – this is where Owning Congruence comes in. Essentially it is all about finding out what makes you tick so you can live more in the present and make the most of each day

Owning Congruence is about living our life in accordance with our beliefs and values, day by day, moment by moment, being in the driving seat of our own life, starting to take control of who and how we want to be

Owning Congruence means we stop being a passenger, jump into the driver’s seat of our own lives and stay in the present. It’s about releasing the clutch and giving ourselves permission to choose our way, manage our behaviour, our thoughts, our feelings, choose to control how we respond, and do the right thing for us

Owning Congruence is about knowing how to be an authentic chameleon, adapting, molding rather than morphing, yet staying the same in our core

So, our tip is to become an authentic chameleon! Rather than seeing their identity as flexible and malleable, most people believe that, ‘this is just the way I am’, and see their identity as rigid or fixed

Just because you’ve played a role in the past doesn’t mean you are wedded to that role forever

We are all actors on a stage, or players in a game, we all have roles on different stages, and play in different games. Authenticity involves choosing which character to play in the production or which position to play in the game. There is nothing fake about this - it is in accord with our internal beliefs.  It’s as natural as putting on a different set of clothes for a different occasion. This is Owning Congruence

Deciding what character to play in the production, what position to play in the game, or what clothes to wear for the occasion – are all great authentic decisions to make

Owning Congruence is deciding what to wear for every occasion - figuratively and literally

Deciding what to wear is a great way to think of what owning congruence means. We have to do something, it’s not passive. We can wear many and varied things that suit us equally well!

Owning Congruence is about owning our reality, today, now, in the present, in-spite of what might be happening around us - and it’s not easy, it’s not intuitive, it takes effort to hold on the present – yet it’s better to live in reality that fiction

You will be surprised at how slowly but surely you can build your ability to stay in the driving seat of your own life by staying in the present, experiencing the moment and choosing how to be. That is living a life of congruence – some might say it’s also building character

Today how about you decide what to wear - what suits you and the occasion - figuratively and literally

If you would like to discover more about how you can Own Congruence we have an Upskill (our name for a course/masterclass) to help you do just that – you can learn more about it here