The Best Way to Stretch Yourself

You must do something different to get something different.

Stretch is part of human growth. It is said that 'A metal spring that is stretched beyond a certain length will never return to the same length again when you release it.'

So if you desire to achieve massive success, you must stretch yourself. But in order to stretch yourself, you must first know 'how'. What is the best way to stretch yourself?

Put yourself on the line. You may have heard this before. It sounds simple and it really is.

"Humans move towards pleasure and move away from pain."

When we attach a negative consequence (pain) to not doing something, we will do whatever it takes to get it done. The best example can be seen in students. When they have an assignment in school that is due in a month's time, you'd probably hear them say, "Well, there's still time". You might see them in a 'relaxed' mode, burying themselves in their sofa, glued to the television box. This will probably last for a few weeks.

But the moment they suddenly 'realize' the assignment is due the next day, they tend to hit the, what I call, 'panic' mode and they will perform at their best. And as if miraculously, they would complete the assignment on the day of submission.

Of course, we can also see this in any other profession. Focus on this example real quick...

I was placed on the line when I was chosen to represent Singapore in an International Conference in the Year 2008, to present on a topic that was 'alien' to me.

And because I wanted the other foreign participants to have a good impression on Singapore and Singaporeans on the whole, I took the personal responsibility to perform well for my presentation. But in order to transform that into reality, I knew I had to first do my research on the topic of military studies. At that point of time, I had zero knowledge on the subject. Taking up the challenge to research on a topic I usually had no interest in really stretched me.

Another stretch I made was to take up the challenge of traveling alone for the trip. If you know me well, you would know that I'm not the kind of guy who like traveling overseas. And here's my definition of stretch:

"Stretching yourself is to do things that you usually would not do in your daily life."

In fact, I'm constantly applying this technique in my life with great success. In order to reach my goal of becoming a public speaking, I constantly place myself on the line by grabbing any opportunity of speaking in front of a group of audiences so that I could hone my public speaking skills.

Another fine example is this. After the overseas trip, I suggested to present on the insights that I've gained to my fellow peers, which is by the way, not required at all. But again, that's how I choose to put myself on the line.

Think about this concept in the context of your career or your business and you'd realize that we are constantly placed on the line when we were given deadlines to meet for each of our project.

Now, if others put us on the line all the time to get things done, why not do it yourself?

Being a personal development blogger for the past few years, Dominic Tay has written over 60 articles in the area of self help which benefited over 3,000 people worldwide. Visit his blog, "A Blog on Success" at http://www.dominictay.com/blog