FMQ 507 Standing is not An Option and is NOT OK

Standing Still Is NOT OK – The Myth of ‘Maintaining

A Five-MinuteQuickie from Personal Development Unplugged

What if standing still is actually taking you backwards?

In this short, sharp episode, we break the illusion of “treading water” in personal growth. You’re either moving forward or slipping back—and this 5-minute muse is a call to action for continuous personal development, even if it's just 1% at a time.

Discover why consistent progress is essential for self-improvement, confidence, and mental well-being. Learn how applying small daily shifts in mindset and behaviour leads to lasting transformation—without overwhelm. This is real, doable self-growth.

🎯 Takeaways

• Standing still = slipping back

• 1% daily growth = exponential results

• The myth of “maintaining”

• Personal development isn’t a sprint—it’s an intention

• Progress in one area ripples through the rest of your life

A simple reminder to evolve, not retreat.

 Go a challenge you want help with?
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https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/fmq-507-standing-is-not-an-option-and-is-not-ok

Shine Brightly 🌟

Paul

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Music Credits

Music by Wataboi, DreamHeaven, ccjmusic, and others from Pixabay.

 

 

And the transcript WARNING if you're a lover of the written word this may make you frustrated, or angry - you have been warned - is it an 'ism

 

Hey, welcome back to the Five Minute Quickie. And, imagine this.

 

You're in a boat. You're a lovely little boat. And, you're on the river.

 

And, there's a lovely little, there's a stream or a current, you know, going past. And, you've put an anchor down. And, as you put that anchor down, you think you're standing still.

 

Are you? Because everything else is moving away from you. You're not moving forward. Everything else is moving forward.

 

So, in effect, your standing still is maybe going backwards. That's what I want to talk to you about. Standing still is okay.

 

No, it isn't. No, it isn't. You see, we talk about, can I? Constant and never-ending improvement.

 

The 1%. And, I've talked about it in the longer podcast. I've talked about it in the past.

 

And, I know I'm going to talk about it in the future. Because, if you're not striving, just striving just to be a little bit better. Then, I know if you think about it, just in your career, maybe in your fitness, maybe in your health, maybe in your learning.

 

If you're not striving to be just a little bit better, you can kid yourself that you're standing still. You can kid yourself that you're just treading water. It'll be okay.

 

But, in fact, you are going backwards. You're going backwards when you relate to other people in your field, if it's career and relationships and things like that. You're going backwards if it's your health.

 

Because, we can all just do a little bit more. But, the thing is, you're not standing still. You're actually going backwards because the old saying, if you don't use it, you will lose it.

 

If you don't use your brain, it's a muscle. You've got so much capacity. Use it or you'll lose it.

 

We'll forget things. We've got to keep topping it up. We've got our body.

 

We've got to keep moving it. You know, it's no good going to the gym once or doing a bit of stretching and going, yeah, I'm flexing because you'll lose it. You go next time, maybe just leave it for a couple of days and try touching your toes.

 

You go, oh, that's tight. We've lost it. I was only standing still.

 

I didn't really do much. In fact, I only tried to do the things I was doing before. Well, if you did the things you're doing before, you tend to find that you do them a little bit less.

 

Because, sometimes you have to do a little bit more to keep even just the same thing. And, you don't have to do it 100%. If you could work at 80% and you go, well, Paul, if I'm doing 80% every day or every week or every time I do something, doesn't that mean I'm standing still? Well, you might think so, but you're not.

 

You're not. Because, what happens is your 80% gets bigger, which is quite weird. Think about that.

 

But, if you can lift something at 80% and you keep practicing and practicing, you can lift a little bit stronger or you become a bit stronger and you can lift a little bit heavier. And, that lifting a little bit heavier now becomes your new 80%. It's a new 80%.

 

So, you're growing and you're not hurting yourself. You're just doing a little bit more. The thing is, sometimes we think we have to do it and everybody thinks all the time, all the time.

 

No. You can if you can. Don't get overwhelmed by it.

 

As long as we are striving in one area today, maybe two areas today, making sure that we pick the most important areas, we'll find that our improvements generalize into other areas of our life. So, if we get fitter, we might get a little bit confident in ourself, just in our own body. That will spread to when you go to your work or when you meet people because you'll be that little bit more confident.

 

So, you know your confidence has grown. Now, you're meeting people and now you're maybe learning from that. So, just don't stand still.

 

It's not okay. And, striving to do just a little bit better, just a little, little, little bit better isn't difficult. Just set your intention.

 

Is this important to me? And, then we'll do it. Now, the thing is, this is only a five-minute quickie. It's something to muse about.

 

And, it's a reminder. It's a reminder to you. It's a reminder to me.

 

So, I've got to keep doing it as well, by the way. And, in this reminder, I'm thinking, I wonder how I can do this in a different way, maybe. I've talked about it in the past.

 

I've talked about it in the future. I haven't talked about the future. What I'm going to say is, I am going to talk about it deeper in the future.

 

So, we can find even better ways just to keep our motivation, just to keep our confidence, just to keep our growth, because that's what personal development is all about. Development, personally. That's what we're going to do.

 

So, you come with me. You come with me, because old guys rule, and I'm an old guy. Have fun.

 

If there's any particular area that you want me to help you with, to get that extra little bit every time you do it, send me an email, feedback at personaldevelopmentunplugged.com, and share this episode as well. I always ask you to, I know you don't, but if you would, it would be kind, and it just means it gets out to more people. You'll be surprised.

 

Okay. Until the next time, my friend, have more fun than you can stand, and maybe have 1% more pleasure than you can stand today. Okay.

 

Time to fly. Bye-bye. So, before you leave this unplugged mind of mine, this hypnotic mind, if you enjoyed this podcast, or any of the other podcasts, please do subscribe.

 

It helps this podcast grow and affect so many more people, and we love to leave everyone in a better place than we found them, and this will help. Help the podcast. It will help you, and it will help, well, everyone that you know.

 

So, if you could just subscribe and share. Share this podcast to everyone you blooming well know. That's the only cost.

 

Pay it forward to everyone, and when you do that, boom, we are all going to make a difference to this little old planet Earth of ours, and the people in it. Let's make a good world, a nice world. Okay.

 

Okay. You can now prepare to leave this unplugged mind. Warning.

 

You are now leaving the unplugged mind of Paul Clough. It's time to fly. Be brave, my friend.

 

Personal development unplugged.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

Personal development [self improvement] [self development] [NLP] [Hypnosis]