My longtime friend Swami Beyondananda says: “If You Stick With Your Story, You’re Stuck With It.”
Sticking with your story can be a good thing in many contexts. A truthful person would stick with their story – because it’s the truth. A consistent brand or story about yourself or your business is also a good thing. People can count on you for what you stand for: great customer service, excellent products, consistent outstanding results, integrity, honesty, accurate information etc. Your clients and customers count on you to provide consistent products and services. They expect that from you.
You and your business need to evolve or “emerge” over time because aspects of your customer base or the environment you’re operating in will change. The need for change over time is where “sticking with your story” may get you stuck in a place where you and/or your business aren’t growing the way they need to. As the environment you’re living and working in changes, “sticking with your story” – not changing it in any way can get you stuck.
Judith and Jim have changed their stories a few times over the course of their lives as their consciousness expanded and they found themselves in new situations that they hadn’t even imagined earlier in their lives. Jim calls this ”emergence”. Emergence is a process we all experience along the journey of life. Emergence, he says is transforming a bunch of ingredients into chicken soup.
He and his wife Judith have been actors, psychotherapists, they’ve written five books, and are now charting a new agenda in internet marketing with respect to “soft selling”. They’re in their 60′s and have no plans to “retire”. They’re certainly not “stuck with their stories”.
Check out the interview I did with them on January 16, 2010 for more insights into this dynamic couple.