Support, resistance, and personal achievement

People who trade securities often look at technical indicators to try to predict the performance of a particular stock. This involves examining charts of the past actions of the issue, looking at the high and low prices at which it traded. Those who study charts can find prices of support and resistance. Support is a price level from which analysts believe the stock will not fall lower. Resistance is the price point that the security may rise to, but will have difficulty exceeding. Sometimes, certain stocks tend to trade within the range created by these two levels, cycling between them with patterns that can be predicted. These are commonly referred to as channeling, wave, oscillating or cycling stocks.

Human beings can live their lives much like cycling stocks. We can find ourselves oscillating between high and low levels of energy, emotion, and achievement.

A healthy person will typically not fall below a particular level of support. Although we may feel discouraged or upset, may not succeed to a particular level, or feel “low energy” from time to time, unless there is some form of pathology present, we typically don’t fall into depression, listlessness or repeated patterns of failure. Our support maintains us at an acceptable, if not evolving, level of existence.

Moreover, we also experience resistance. We may cycle towards high levels of energy, good feelings and satisfactory results from our work or other relationships. Yet to achieve at the highest level, to attain superior results, or to create amazing things, we find ourselves restrained by an invisible ceiling. Our resistance imprisons us.

We are told that to achieve success, we must set goals. The acronym S. M. A. R. T. — standing for specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, and time-metered — affords a good starting place for goal setting. But too often, we set objectives that are designed to raise our level of support. If our work requires us to sell 10 widgets a day, we may set a goal to sell 12. If our efforts as an author require us to finish our novel in a year, we may design a strategy to write 1000 words a day. If our web-based business needs a community built, we may target three new Facebook friends a day, or a dozen spins of our YouTube videos over the same time span. And although setting these types of goals is a valuable and necessary exercise, does basing these benchmarks off of our support lines shortchange us from truly achieving the amazing things of which we are capable?

What if we shift our focus? What if we study instead the ceiling of resistance rather than the foundation of support when crafting our objectives? To break through into higher levels of achievement mandates that we function at higher levels of energy, that we remain on an emotional even keel, and from that we can then enjoy greater success.

So if you are a songwriter, an artist, or an attorney, salesperson or entrepreneur, what is holding you back from breaking through that resistance level? If we return to our stock analogy, for a security to break free of resistance requires fundamentals, news or, sometimes a simple belief of success In the underlying company’s endeavors. What does this look like in the world of human behavior?

Resistance in the flesh-and-blood realm comes in the form of limiting beliefs. The same inner voice that can inspire you to higher levels of creativity or achievement can also tell you that you’re not strong enough/smart enough/good enough/lucky enough to be a rockstar, whether you are rocking the world of entertainment or the world of widget sales. Or, you may assume things that are incorrect. Or, you may interpret things incorrectly. All of these beliefs function to hold you back from busting through to the next level.

When a stock breaks resistance, it sometimes runs. The price will climb further and further until it settles in at a new, higher value. What would it look like for your creative efforts — whether you’re crafting the next top ten tune or molding the mind of your four-year-old child — if you were able to run, breaking through your resistance towards new and higher levels of achievement?

 

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.