What’s good for zebras isn’t good for you

Did you know the black and white stripes on a zebra protect them from predators? It’s true. They work in two ways:

• They keep mosquitos and biting flies away from them because of the confusing pattern of the stripes.
• The wavy lines of a zebra’s stripes blend in with the wavy lines of the tall grass around it. It doesn’t matter that the zebra’s stripes are black and white, and the lines of the grass are yellow, brown or green, because the zebra’s main predator, the lion, is colorblind. The pattern of the camouflage is much more important than its color, when hiding from these predators. If a zebra is standing still in matching surroundings, a lion may overlook it completely.

So, what’s this got to do with you?

Black and white is a great combination in many things: photos, clothing and Oreos®.

It’s not so great in people.

As humans, we can have black and white thinking and use it all too often.

Good or bad.

Right or wrong.

More or less.

Yes or no.

Consider this: When you have all or nothing thinking, there are no other options.

It’s either this or it’s that.

It’s either A or B.

And – there’s no room for C as an option.

Maybe it’s a rush to decide, maybe it’s the competitive world we live in, maybe it’s a pattern we’ve developed unknowingly…whatever the reason, the outcome remains the same: we often fail to recognize possibilities exist beyond the either/or that we’re considering. 

Just the idea that we could or should look outside of choice A or B is, in itself, an important awareness and learning!

This all-or-nothing thinking can limit how you think. It keeps you stuck. It keeps your creative juices bottled up.

When you see yourself and others as one dimensional, you’re missing half of the experience of being alive and appreciating others.

There’s freedom in the AND. 

It allows you to understand both sides before making a decision. You can hold two feelings at the same time.

If you’re leaving one job for an excellent opportunity elsewhere, you can feel sad to leave that old job and those colleagues AND excited for your next adventure.

You can love your work AND dislike certain aspects of it.

Look at a battery. There’s a positive end and a negative end. Without both, you can’t make a successful connection.

This is how life works, too.

Life is in the middle. 

That’s where all the juice is.

The next time you’re faced with making a decision and you feel the urge to use either/or thinking, ask yourself:

What else might be possible?

What other choices might there be?

What else could be true?

Shifting to allow the AND is crucial to making better decisions. It’s empowering and puts you in the driver’s seat so you can live a full and rich life.

It opens your world to:

Choice.

Love.

Growth.

Abundance.

Decisions.

Creativity.

Joy.

What would your life look like if you stopped “either/ or” thinking and embrace the “and”?

P.S. You are a successful professional woman – AND so much more! Schedule your complimentary Discovery Call with me today and discover how you AND coaching are an excellent match to make your vision of your life a reality.