The fulcrum and the lever

A poorly positioned fulcrum requires an immense amount of lever power. Where is your fulcrum positioned?

Too many of us have amazing ideas we want to share, projects we want to bring to life, or positive impacts we want to impart, but don't.

Shawn Achor presents us with a beautiful metaphor in the Happiness Advantage, which he refers to as the fulcrum (our mindset) and the lever (our power & potential). A well-positioned fulcrum makes our potential more powerful. An ill-positioned fulcrum results in needing a bigger amount of effort to achieve the same results.

The mindset we hold influences how we perceive and experience the world. With a mindset that aligns with our potential, what feels possible is immense. With a poor mindset, even someone with great potential struggles to achieve what they seek. Essentially, how we see ourselves influences the level of difficulty for us to achieve our goals.

All too often, our fulcrum is so ill-positioned that we fail to start altogether. The project we care about that sits in our inbox. The phone call we don't make to ask for help. That conversation we hide from that could change everything.

We have wants and set goals we can't seem to reach. We do it not because we're truly incapable of reaching them, but because hidden parts of us resist change.

Parts of ourselves, of our psyche, work against what we want by creating resistance to keep us safe.

That is analogous to a poorly positioned fulcrum, creating resistance and requiring an immense amount of power to overcome.

The best practice is to re-learn to listen. For many, listening is an act we offer to others, but listening is something we need to offer to ourselves first; shifting the focus inward.

Listening without judgment to the thoughts and emotions that make up our internal experience, not to change them, but to honour them first.

This process enables us slowly to notice our fears and become aware of the resistance they impose. And with awareness, it slowly releases the grip they have on us. Fear doesn't disappear, but we gain what we call courage and begin to act despite it.

By listening, we improve our mindset which in turn improves the placement of the fulcrum, creating better leverage.

Miguel,
Sparknotion – Think Differently.