During a walk last night I came up with the idea of posting some favourite quotes on my blog.  Since the quotes are usually thought-provoking as opposed to “motivational” I thought I would call this feature the Daily Demotivator (in the spirit of www.despair.com)

Instead I am taking it one step further.  The time frame is weekly instead of daily, but you can read the quote, and if you are so inclined, take the challenge along with me this week, and post a comment and let me know how it goes.  I will let you know how mine goes too.

Here’s this week’s quote.

“There is a time to admire the grace and persuasive power of an influential idea, and there is a time to fear its hold over us.  The time to worry is when the idea is so widely shared that we no longer even notice it, when it is so deeply rooted that it feels to us like plain common sense.  At the point when objections are not answered anymore because they are no longer even raised, we are not in control:  we do not have the idea; it has us.”

– Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards

Which idea or concept is so rooted for you that it is beyond question?

The assumption I am going to question this week is “I have to feel confident in order to sell my services.”

Questioning doesn’t mean you must take action, i.e. go out and attempt to prove the assumption false.  Do that if you want to, but spending a little time each day thinking about it is acceptable too. 

Contemplate other possibilities. 

And if you can’t think of any other possibilities, think about the possibility of other possibilities.

The idea is to create some wiggle room, throw in some doubt, create a little space around it.

Here are some examples of assumptions you might question.

I can’t quit my job, I need the money.
I need to love myself first before anyone else will love me.
A good woman is….
A good man is….
I need to do ________ before I can be happy.
If I leave my current career field, then my expensive education getting trained in this field was a waste of time, money and effort.
I can’t ask for help on _______, I have to do it alone.

Let me know how your experiment goes.  “Horrible” is an acceptable answer, because then we can talk about it and at least you’re aware of how deeply rooted whatever-it-is is for you. 🙂