On face value, there seem to be two principal types of people in the world: pioneers and maintainers.
Pioneers are rugged individualists who want to blaze new trails, go it alone, start and run their own businesses. However, they can easily become bogged down with routine, detail and the mundane.
Maintainers love stability. They prefer rules, systems, structures, and to travel on established roads and highways of order.
What we don’t always realise is that these two opposites are alive and well within us.
Neither is better than the other. We need both for us to function at our optimal social, spiritual and economic level.
Identifying the time and place for each character to come forward and contribute to our lives can, at times, be problematic, and the results in most cases are inappropriate. I’m sure we are all acutely aware of this.
Managing the tension between the two is often the cause of great anxiety and stress.
We tend to focus on the aspect that we are most comfortable with, and neglect our weaknesses, thereby exacerbating the separation and difference between the two.
To balance these aspects, we need to understand in any given moment and at any given time who we are.
This week’s challenge:
Spend some time in quiet reflection on the following questions:
Who am I? A pioneer or a maintainer?
How can I balance the other?
What do I want to achieve, and why?
