Inflection Points

the trip through life is rough, bruising and offering its fair share of pain as well as joy.  the truth is that we all get scarred by the trials and tribulations of life.  but those of us who are inwardly focused and totally sure that our own opinions are the only correct ones and for sure the only ones that matter receive the most scars, mostly self inflicted.

we all build our individual belief structure as we go through life and that is a good thing because it teaches us not to touch the hot stove tops and to avoid many easily self-inflicted wounds.  however our belief system can also be damaging when it becomes too rigid and is reinforced on a daily basis by our own network of like believers whom we chose to surround ourselves with.  we end up in an ever-tighter spiral of our own beliefs, open to little else, especially critical thinking, which might violate our beliefs.

speaking of beliefs, i believe in inflection points. in life we find a trajectory that pleases us such as the process of climbing a corporate ladder or the process of starting and building our own company.  normally once found we stay on that trajectory for a significant period of time, focused on the goals that appear on the horizon.  this can be good as long as we aren't too tunnel visioned.  no trajectory is perfect and as we all know, anything in our world that is too rigid is eventually broken.

inflection points are events that occur in our lives which cause us to change trajectory, slightly or significantly, based upon the interactions of that event.  inflection points usually involve people, a person that you meet during each significant event (inflection point) of your life.  for example below is an inflection point map of my life to date.

each of these events (shown by the circles) changed the trajectory of my life (for better or worse).  why, because inside each of those events was a person who introduced me to new and different ways of thinking about work, life, relationships, and humanity in general.  the trick was not having these events occur or meeting the people, but being open to new and different thinking and using that thinking to reevaluate my trajectory and belief system.

you can learn from everyone around you, no matter what their rank or circumstances in life. remember a stranger is just a person whose story you do not yet know.  you just have to be mentally open and willing to listen.

want to succeed in business as well as life, just be open to continually obtain new input for your critical thinking, input that comes from these inflection points.