FMQ 513 Let's Flip Constant Striving For Improvement

Let's Flip Constant Striving For Improvement

In personal development, we’re always told to chase “constant and never-ending improvement.” And yes, growth matters. But what if the pressure to always improve is actually holding you back?

In this 5-minute quickie, I invite you to flip that idea. Instead of endlessly striving, take a moment to recognise the incredible skills and wisdom you already have. From communication, relationships, and problem-solving to resilience and creativity — you’ve built a lifetime of tools.

Here’s the thing: if you don’t use them, you risk losing them. But by consciously using what you’ve learned — through selfless service, sharing, and living intentionally — you keep those skills alive, and they keep growing.

So today’s muse is simple: stop chasing for a minute and start using. You’ll not only feel richer inside but also make a difference to others around you.

Because personal growth isn’t just about “more” — it’s about sharing what you’ve already got.

And sharing what you hear:

https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/fmq-513-lets-flip-constant-striving-for-improvement

And the video link https://youtu.be/4xsaSMdFhhA

Shine Brightly 🌟

Paul

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Music Credits

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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

 

 So another Muse, another Muse, the five quickie, five quickie, five minute quickie episode of the Personal Development Unplugged podcast, where I just want to bring subjects for you to think about. And maybe in that thinking, that musing, we'll find something below the surface or something special, a learning that we can take forward into the present, into the future and create a better life for ourselves.

 

So what are we talking about today? Well, it's all about flip. How do we flip things? What do we flip? I'm going to tell you now. You see, we, I talk an awful lot about, in this genre of personal development, constant and never ending improvement.

 

Can I? You know, looking for that 1% more. And I'm going to bang on about that. I'm probably bang on about it.

 

Maybe a little bit. No, I'll never bang on about it too much. But, you know, sometimes constant and never ending improvement can drag us down a little.

 

It can be a little bit overwhelming, you know, because sometimes we plateau. And when we plateau, we're waiting for the next bit. We're letting things integrate, but we think maybe we're not improving.

 

But that is the plateau that we're going to, or the springboard we're going to jump off into our next set of steps of improvement. Because if you see, if you have a look at children, and you see them even day by day, you'll see massive changes in them, what they can do. If you don't see them for a little while, I have grandchildren.

 

I don't see them every day because I don't live close to them. But when I do see them, Jesus, they have changed so much. The vocabulary changes, their thoughts changes, the things they're doing changes.

 

Everything is, well, it's not just 1%. It is massive change. So we're all capable of massive change.

 

Because if kiddies can do it, we can do it because we've got that in our, maybe it's in our DNA, but we've got it in our physiology, we've got it in our brain, it's a muscle. So here's the thing though. When we're a little bit older, looking at me, when we're a little bit older, maybe that change isn't quite so rapid, is it? It's not quite so rapid.

 

It's not quite so different. If you look back over the months, you see a change. But the thing is, I want to flip this now, you see, instead of flip it, instead of being constant, never ending improvement, I want to keep in our back of our mind, keep it as an intention, because I want you to, you know, use it, don't want to lose it.

 

Whatever we've learned, we're going to do. But here's the thing, let's just flip it. How much have we learned in these days we've been on this little old planet Earth? How much? I've learned a staggering amount, haven't we? You know, and if you do things like my qualities and things like that, you would put down all the things you've learned, all those wonderful skills, skills in relationships, skills in your career, skills in just being you.

 

And on that thought of use it or lose it, even if we're not looking for that massive increase every day, if we set our intention to use the skills we've got, keep that muscle going, we won't lose it because what a waste, what a waste it would be to lose all those wonderful things that we've learned over the years. Sometimes stretching for the things that we haven't got and not using the stuff we've done, we've learned, the skills we've got. Now, how do you do that? Now, one of the thoughts I had is, I don't know, it's another thing, another banging on the thing, selfless service.

 

How can I use these skills to serve other people? Because if we've got good skills, it's nice to share them, yes, there's a little bit of ego there, I know, because it's a little bit of look at me, you know, the LIM syndrome, some people have it a lot more in bucket loads, look at me syndrome, but no, it's just nice to say, look, I've got this thing, I'd love to share it with you, I'd love to help you, I'd love to do something for you, I don't want anything in return, because in return, I get a good feeling anyway. And I'm also using my muscles, my skill muscles, my relationship muscles, my communication muscles, my happy muscle, because it will make you happy, it will make you feel so good, and you can then get your grateful muscle going. Now, so let's indulge ourselves, indulge ourselves in the things that we've learned, the things we were good at, all those skills.

 

And I think in doing that, not only will you be using it, so you won't lose it, I think they will develop too. And I'd say when you're getting a little bit older, you don't tend to see the massive differences. But I know if you look back over a month, two months, you would see a difference just by using what you've got.

 

Now that's something to think about. Now to think about it, to muse about it, first of all, I would love you to think about, take a little bit of time out to pause to breathe, maybe when you go on your walk, to think about everything you've learned. Write it down, write those things down, make a note of them, all the things, the skills you've got, and then think, how could I use this to share with people? How could I use this in selfless service? And you know what, you would be making a difference, not only to yourself, because you will, but you'll be making a difference to the people around you and little old planet Earth just gets a little bit richer.

 

I love that word rich. So please, just have a think, have a muse, have a muse with me, I'm going to be doing it. And I think it's a thing we can constantly go back to, and that's why we write it down.

 

If we write it down, we can muse, think, add to it, develop it, get inspiration from it. And your unconscious mind seems to give you more aha moments in there, more intuition. So please do that.

 

If there's anything you want, if anything comes up though, when you're doing this and you go, oh, that doesn't feel good, or there's a negative emotion, do get in touch with me. Email me please at feedback at personaldevelopmentunplugged.com and then tell me what it is and we'll come up with something for you. Either I'll redirect you or direct you into a place where you can get the help you need, which would be like with a hypnosis track or a particular episode or another podcast, or we'll develop a longer podcast for you.

 

Or maybe it's just a small FMQ with just a little bit more information. And that would also help everyone else. So that would be selfless service.

 

Asking questions is selfless service because you're helping other people. Because you know what? We all have that question, we just don't know it, but the answer will resonate. Hope that makes sense.

 

Do share, give this to everyone around. Just say, hey, where's your phone number? WhatsApp it, whatever. Maybe mention it on social media.

 

We don't like social media that, but this is social media for good, sharing good stuff. I hope it's good stuff. I hope, I do really do.

 

I'm doing my best. So come back for a longer podcast, the longer, deeper dives and these five minute musings. And we'll have fun together.

 

Because it's fun to have fun and be happy for no reason. Yeah. See you soon.

 

Time to fly. Warning, you are now leaving the unplugged mind of Paul Clough. It's time to fly and run.

 

Be brave, my friend. Personal development unplugged.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited

Personal development [Unplugged] [podcast][NLP][Hypnosis][self development]self improvement][awareness]