Raise the bar moments
Gateways to Everything You Want in Life
So youโre successful. Or at least other people tell you that you are. Youโve climbed a ladder, served people well, and earned the respect of others along the way.
Yet, something feels off.
Maybe youโre feeling exhausted and burned out, asking yourself existential questions about your life and career, or not feeling successful anymore.
Or, maybe you know youโve been successful, but deep down, you believe you could generate more impact and achieve even greater success.ย
Youโre feeling an internal disconnect.
You have so much further to go, but youโre not sure how to get off the super highway youโre on or how to navigate from โhereโ to โthere,โ or maybe you feel like youโve lost the plot a bit.
People believe midlife is the only time you notice a disconnect between what youโve achieved and the bigger reasons for doing it all. Although this often happens in midlife, itโs common for high achievers to hit points like this throughout their lives and careers.
I call these moments of nagging internal disconnect: โraise the bar moments.โ
Why?
Those moments when you feel uncomfortable are precisely when you should raise the bar on your dreams, your life, career, or business. Your intuition is getting your attention; ignoring her can let your feelings fester and lead to burnout, bitterness, and depression.
You might feel disconnected from your identity outside of work. Youโve poured your heart into your job or career to the point that youโre unsure who you are without it. Heed the call! Itโs time to figure out who you are without your title.
Maybe you feel like youโre not allowed to be feeling this way; it feels too risky. After all, people are looking up to you and expecting this version of you to continue on this path, and your life is comfortable. What would your family and friends think if you told them how much you want to escape it all? Leap! itโs time to make the change you need and deserve.
Perhaps youโve already decided to make a change, but now youโre feeling unsuccessful, maybe for the first time, and thinking you should get things back to how they were. Commit! Itโs time to get to know yourself in an entirely new way. What got you here wonโt get you there.
Or, maybe it's about your business: you feel pulled to take it in a new direction. But the existing model works, so why rock the boat? Acknowledge your intuition, explore, and experiment! Your customers may love the new direction, or perhaps it will lead to a new product, service, or business.ย
Whatโs the point of achieving all of the success youโve achieved to date if youโre no longer feeling it?ย
Raise the bar.
You deserve a sense of meaning and purpose in your life and through your work.ย
And you also deserve to โfeelโ well while you do it: to be physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy. Youโll get better results more easily if you do, and youโll be able to sustain your achievement.
These are hard concepts for high achievers to accept. Weโre not taught how to achieve without sacrificing all of ourselves.
You probably believe being stressed goes hand in hand with achievement, right?ย
Is it even possible to achieve success without feeling fried or disconnected most of the time?
Yes, it is. Raise the bar.
Be honest: How would you love to spend your days, weeks, months, and years?
And how do you want to feel? Physically? Emotionally? Mentally? Spiritually?
What does โsuccessโ look like for you in the near and long term?
Raising the bar sounds scary, huh?
It sounds like doing more.
It sounds like change.
It sounds like what youโve already been doing all of your life.ย
So, how can it be the solution?
You must raise the bar to fulfill your innate desire to create and achieve.
Except this time, itโs different.
This time, itโs really about you.ย ย
Unshackle yourself from other peopleโs expectations.
Face and harness your innermost fears to go after your innermost desires.
Create an impact on the world thatโs meaningful to you and those you serve.
Tend your corner of purpose and let go of everything else.
And youโre right, this will be scary.ย
You will look in the mirror and see someone different.
Youโll endure the greatest discomfort of your life and career: facing yourself to become someone different.ย
And it will be exhilarating!ย
The best part is that you and your loved ones will reap the rewards of your effort.
Success On Your Terms leads to an incredible life and career designed by you specifically for you.
This is a life without Sunday Scaries or hiding from Monday mornings; it is a life where you wake up filled with gratitude and have multiple pinch-me moments throughout the day.
This is a life with a mission. A single or set of big questions that youโre stuck into which drives your life or work to which generating the solutions brings you intense meaning and fulfillment.ย ย
This is a life in which your intellectual prowess is matched by equally strong physicality, well-being, and grounded spirituality.
Once you've raised the bar, you will be utterly amazed each dayโwith your life and career; itโs something that not even dreams can prepare you to feel, an intense feeling of joy that continues to surge.ย
Itโs hard to put into words, but I feel it daily. I cannot begin to tell you how incredible my life is today compared to four years ago or ever. And I want this for you and for everyone.
Raise the bar.
Getting there wonโt happen overnight.
It wonโt happen in a week, a month, or possibly even six months.ย ย
Thankfully, we overestimate what we can do in a month and underestimate what we can do in a yearโif we commit to it.
Take the long view, raise the bar.
My name is Janine Mathรณ, and Iโm writing Live Your Opus, a short guide to big transformation. Iโd be grateful if youโd share my work and forward it to others who may benefit from it.
Subscribe to get regular updates to support you in raising the bar on your dreams, life, or work to achieve more sustainable, meaningful outcomes. Paid subscribers will receive chapters of my book as I write and invitations to online conversations and events.ย
Thanks for being here.