Do You Know the Situations In Which You Flourish?

Think back to a time when you were operating in the zone and were unstoppable, what elements contributed to your off-the-charts performance? Great work environment? Committed team members? Work you loved and were good at? Now, think back to another situation where you were stressed, floundering, unhappy, feeling devalued and constantly feeling that you had nothing to contribute, what elements were present? Toxic work environment? Overly demanding boss? Work you were unqualified to perform or work that did not feed your soul? People who did not have your best interest at heart?

There are situations where you flourish, and others where you wither and a little piece of you die each day. But, to live a more fulfilled life and experience happiness and success, it is important to increase the number of situations where you flourish. To do so requires identifying these situations to create more of them.

“I really didn’t understand earlier in my career the kinds of situations that would allow me to flourish, and the importance of aligning my interests with my strengths,” responded Stephanie MacKendrick, President of the Canadian Women in Communications, in an interview for my book Tales of People Who Get It, when asked about a major regret she had. This is obviously something that Ms. MacKendrick has put some thought into, something that is important to her and worth ruminating on.

Honestly answer the following questions to start building more flourishing situations into your life:

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What do you do well that others compliment you on?
• What are the things that you enjoy doing?
• Which things do you get so immersed in that you do not notice time flying by?
• What types of people do you work best with?
• When are you happiest?
• What excites you about life?
• What motivates you?
• If you had unlimited financial resources, what would you be doing?

The answers to the questions are pretty good indicators of what you should be doing more of. Integrate more of these situations - that feed your soul and make you flourish - into your life. In no time you will discover a major shift, and you will start to achieve success in all areas of your life. Learn a lesson from Ms. MacKendrick’s experience.