Category: Growth

Defining Success

Published on by erikcpanzer1 Comment

“The accomplishment of an aim or purpose” – Oxford languages

Success is a concept where everyone has the opportunity to define it differently. The beauty of the human race is that no one person is the same and therefore it is most likely that everyone’s definition of success is different.

Due to a lack of knowledge, people make assumptions, they create opinions, and these opinions are only based on their thoughts, their experiences, and when all they have in their head is certain voices, their perspective is very skewed with no empathetic understanding to others journey.

It is important to remember this as you travel on your journey, that no one elses definition of success is the same as yours. For some, it may be internal, for others, it may be external. The most important thing is to know within yourself what success is in your life.

So, What is success for you?

The only person that can answer that question for you, is you. No one else should determine what you consider to be successful. Success can only truly be defined in relation to what you have personally set out to achieve. And to understand what you have set out to achieve, it is critical to know your purpose.

In a results driven world, where numbers, scores, and status are so often used as the measurement for success, without purpose, these are all you really have to assess your achievement. When you have a higher purpose, what is seen on the surface to the public eye becomes irrelevant to the journey you are on.

Here’s a little story:

I once took a class at University where in my final exam I got a score of 38/100. After initial disappointment, I realized something, that my definition of success was not about the score that I had gotten, it was actually about all that I had learned. In that class, I started with a knowledge base of near zero, whereas most my classmates started with a knowledge base of over 50, so it is only understandable that when the professor came to mark our final exam, my knowledge was considerably lower than everyone elses. So I wrote an email and said this, “if you are going to grade me on what I have achieved, I have failed, but if you are going to grade me on what I have learned, then I have passed”. The professor never responded to that email….but I passed the class.

As I’ve continued to grow in this life, this has been a poignant moment to reflect upon and show me that my definition of success is about what I learn and the journey that I am on, rather than the results I achieve.

Success is the person I am becoming through the journey that I am on.

I have discovered my purpose and I follow that everyday. It reflects in my actions, in my decisions, and therefore it allows me to measure my own success and no one else.

I encourage you, whatever industry you are in, whatever path you are on, to clearly define your purpose for your life, your reason for being, to enable you to accurately measure success in your life. Don’t let society define it for you.

Find your purpose and you’ll find your way

2020 shouldn’t be written off.

Published on by erikcpanzer

2020 may be a year that we are all glad to see the end of, but that should not mean we disregard all that we learned from it.

Yes many devastating things happened, but when faced with adversity, we are given a great opportunity to learn and grow.

2020 was a year where it may have felt like so much was out of our control; lock downs, lay offs, mask wearing. The list goes on.  

Although many things were out of our control, there was still so much that was in our control.

Mindset, how you view the world around you

Thoughts, what you think about

Attitude, how you interact with the world around you

Habits, what your consistent behaviors are 

These are all things that we can control, no matter what is going on around us. A healthier balance of control with these can lead to improved well being.

Start with You. Intentionally focus on these areas to improve your life, and over time with a continued intention for improvement, you’ll progress towards fulfillment.

Become fully responsible for yourself!

2020 taught us that life is fragile, it’s a gift, and it can change in an instant.

Give time to yourself. Connect with friends. Learn new things. Explore new places. Read more books. Do what makes you fulfilled. Live it up!

Go make the most out of 2021 for yourself.

Footprints in the Sand

Published on by erikcpanzer

Footprints in the sand, one minute they are there, the next minute they are gone.

No matter what the surface layer shows, the footprint that you left is still there, just unseen below the surface.

In life, people of all ages, and backgrounds, come and go. Each moment of human interaction has the ability to be a footprint in the sand.

Whether a single, short interaction, or longer lasting relationship, each of these experiences have the potential to leave an imprint on you. No matter what the moment was, below the surface, conscious or unconscious, a part of that moment will stay with you forever.

Over time, these footprints wash to the surface. All just very fleetingly from those moments, you might feel the emotion again, refelct on the knowledge gained or remember the connection you built.

What is exciting about this, is what type of footprint you can have on others, friends or strangers.

What type of moments can you share with others, to leave a footprint in their sand to one day wash to the surface and have an impact on their life. 

Walk your own path, leave your own footprints and be present and aware of the footprints being left on you.

Identity – What You Do Is Not Who You Are

Published on by erikcpanzer

Who are you?

I challenge you to answer that question without mentioning what you do for work…Try it, it’s not easy!

That question, usually when it’s answered, it outlines ones identity.

For athletes, this answer can show that their identity is confined to their sport. The same applies to any other persons job; a teacher, doctor, business person, cleaner, check out clerk, etc.

Through committing so much time and energy to your job, it leads to this attachment, and you begin identifying yourself with your job.

So, what happens when your job isn’t going well? You’d probably tell me that life isn’t going well. And the same goes for the opposite, if your job is going well, your life is going well.

This shouldn’t be the case. I believe that these are two different aspects of ones lifes. Your job is only a portion of your identity. Yes it plays a role in it, but it is not the main identifier of an individual.

Your job is what you do, it is not who you are.

Being able to accept this and separate the two things can be incredibly challenging.

You are you; no tag, no attachment, before you are anything else. Just you, your characteristics, and your behaviours.

To help separate your job and your identity, I encourage you to establish yourself outside of your sport or work. Take the time to step back from your sport or work and look at who you really are as a person. Explore what you’re interested in, what you care about, what makes you fulfilled and ensure that these play a large role in your life.

Each day, when you leave the office, school, field, court, etc., are you able to leave it all at the door when you get home?

Finding ways to detach yourself, and not carry the emotion from work with you into the home can be very powerful. It can give yourself freedom to just be you and be fully present with yourself or whoever you are with, because outside of your job, there are so many other important things in your life that you should give your energy and attention to each day.

Who are you going to be when that thing you give so much time to disappears?

You are so much more than your job. So I encourage you to focus on seeking happiness and fulfilment. Embrace your unique set of interests and desires, these are a large part of your identity. And if you’re struggling to find these, if you are lacking purpose or vision for your life outside of your work, let’s talk! I would love to help you onto a journey towards happiness and fulfilment.

Do Better, Be Better

Published on by erikcpanzer3 Comments

In light of Nike’s commercial, Better | Mamba Forever | Nike, it got me thinking about this idea of being better.

What is ‘being better’? What does it consist of? What is the outcome? 

I believe that individual potential is endless. With enough deliberate and intentional development, matched with patience and perseverance, you can become your best at anything. But what is important for you to know is your purpose behind being better.

You don’t know how good you can be, because you’re not there yet, but can you pursue that? Of course you can!
It’s all easy and great to say you’re doing better or being better, but is you being better associated to something you are building towards achieving or are you just saying it because it sounds good? Find that purpose for being better. 

Are we being who we say we want to be and are we doing what we say we want to do? – George Mumford

Having a purpose allows you to build habits to act and behave intentionally towards it every day, and through this you will continue to grow towards maximising your potential, your better version of yourself.

For me, being better is this pursuit of excellence and a thirst for growth. It is this desire every single day to make improvements in various aspects of my life.
I am on a journey every single day to become the best version of myself that I can be. The best brother, son, friend I can be. The best athlete, performance coach, and life mentor I can be. The best person I can be!

With this purpose giving me direction for growth, I then act and behave deliberately towards this purpose in ways that will allow me to make improvements in these areas each and every day.
Every day I take as an opportunity to grow. 
Every training I take as an opportunity to improve my skills.
Every conversation I take as an opportunity to learn something.
Every thought I take as an opportunity to build compassion.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

Every day you are in competition with one person and one person only, and that is yourself and who you were yesterday. The more you can truly understand this and apply this to your actions, the more growth you will see towards a better version of yourself.

So I ask you this, why are you being better, and what is you being better leading you to?

What A Time To Be Alive

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If there is one thing that we can all learn from these unprecedented times, it is that you can find out what is really important to you — what you need, day to day, for your happiness. 

During these current times, so many external things have become so quickly irrelevant. This is a great opportunity to reset yourself and allow yourself to simplify and clarify your life. It is a great time for self-reflection for whatever stage in life you are at. 

Don’t like your job? 

Is your job so good that you wake up each day with an energy, a thirst for the work you do? 

If not, figure out what you feel like will give you that energy and look for those opportunities and apply for those roles. Take that jump. 

Don’t like a certain relationship? 

Does your relationship give you life and excitement, a sense of adventure, and a lot of love? 

If not, talk about what’s missing, address the issues, or just step away. Don’t let it drag you down away from happiness. 

Don’t like what you’re studying? 

Are you studying something you care about? Do you get excited to learn about this topic each day? 

If not, change majors or programs. Find what you are really passionate about and study it, engross yourself in it. Let that give you a reason for waking up each day. 

Don’t like where you are living? 

Is your environment, your home, your surroundings giving you the ability to be free, creative and thrive? Or, Is it holding you back from living a life that you truly enjoy? 

If not, find somewhere that fosters creativity and freedom to allow you to thrive and give you purpose each day.  

Don’t like who you have become? 

Are you not happy with who you are, what you are doing or where you are going? Do you feel like you’ve become someone you don’t want to be? 

Isolate yourself with your thoughts, your visions. Brainstorm your purpose, find some meaning in your life, discover your passions, discover your reason for being and let that guide you to who you wish to be.  

Yes, I understand that for each of these points there are challenges and unknowns, especially financially. To make such decisions in these times can be uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable during chaos is where the most growth occurs. 

It is a time to step away from fear, and begin to move towards happiness.

The greatest thing you can do in isolation is disconnect and take some time with YOU; sit with yourself, your thoughts, your visions, your dreams. Step away from all other influences and find out about yourself on a new level. Discover your passions, your purpose, and begin on your adjusted journey, whether you decide to take a new path is up to you. 

When we come through the other side of this, you will know yourself better, your path will be clearer, your life will be simpler, and living a life of happiness should be easier. 

What having all this time has done for some is to spend more time with their kids, their families, more than they usually would. 

For others, it has given them time to reconnect with old friends, near or far. 

And most importantly, for many, it has allowed them to get creative, work on personal projects, chase their passions and do things they really enjoy. These are things that often get put to the side, as work takes priority, when they really should be front and center of what we do. 

These are three things that can make us feel more alive, more fulfilled. They make us feel happy. 

Take as much or as little from this blog, but no matter how much you take from it, I hope that your life will become richer because of it. 

Peace and love

I understand this is a challenging time. If you need someone to talk to, please reach out to me. Whether it is to help you discover your purpose, learn how to be comfortable being alone with yourself, or just to chat about life, I am always willing to talk, discuss and assist.

Believe

Published on by erikcpanzer

Belief

It’s a strong power, and without it, your grounds for achieving will be very weak.

By definition, “Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a mental representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true.”

This state of mind, this mental capacity has allowed us as a human species to achieve extraordinary things: Using science to create medicine to save millions of people, People walking on the Moon, Developing technology that has changed the world.

Put it this way, if it weren’t for belief, we wouldn’t have people who have or can change the world. That’s pretty significant.

If you don’t believe in yourself, what’s the point? Whether it’s sports, work, relationships, if you don’t believe in them, then nothing strong enough will be pushing for success. Success just doesn’t happen on its own, it takes hard work, perseverance, but most importantly, it takes belief.

So, where do you start? Firstly you need something that you’re aiming for. This will give you a target, something to strive for, something to believe in. With this target in mind, you must then believe strongly in yourself that you can achieve that.

In this process of achieving success, it is human instinct to want others to believe in you, for others to approve of your target, however, others are irrelevant. They don’t matter. If they want to support you, great, however, it is your individual control, it is your individual power to believe, that will lead you to achieving, not anyone else’s. If you want to achieve something extraordinary, the first thing you have to do is believe in yourself.

To believe is to have confidence. To be confident is to have certainty. To be certain is to know beyond doubt. You must know beyond doubt that you are committed, committed to achieve what you have set out to achieve.

Those trailblazers, those world beaters, those life changers, those ordinary people that have achieved extraordinary things all had one thing in common, they understood the power of belief and look where it took them.
These people were willing to fail, to be knocked down, time and time again, because they knew the strength they had through their power of belief and they believed in their ability to get back up and go again, and again, until they succeeded.

No matter what you believe, big or small, is your belief strong enough to keep you going, no matter the setback?

Time, a Concept of Measurement

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Time. What really is it? I’m not too sure myself, but from what I understand, time is just a concept of measurement, measuring what, I’m not exactly quite sure either. It’s a funny concept, using numbers to give each period from sun up till sun down or for better word, a day, an outline of the amount of ‘time’ we have. This aspect of it is at least consistent. But what these numbers really do is they set barriers each day for us to live by, which we all suitably abide by. Today’s society is so deeply regimented into living life by these numerical barriers and guidelines that what if those numbers weren’t there each day for us to live by? What if we had no barriers, what if we had no structure, what if we had no time?

But for the purpose of these thoughts, lets just continue within these barriers of time…you think you have time, and maybe by the measurement of numbers, you may. But whatever that is, it is not to be taken for granted. Life isn’t something you wait around until 5pm each day for. Life isn’t something you wait until tomorrow or the weekend for. In today’s society, life is unpredictable. Seeing school aged kids who probably thought they had a whole life ahead of them get taken too soon, or friends that never got to live out their true potential due to devastating diseases and events, you can’t even question how much more time they wish they had. If that doesn’t make an impact, if that doesn’t make you realize how fortunate you are for each and every day you live, I’m not quite sure what will.

Time, whatever it is, won’t wait around for you to get your dream job. It won’t give you enough money to travel the world. And it certainly wont always put you in the best environment for your health. You have to make those things happen for yourself. You have to take control of your life, take control of the time you have and use it to your advantage.

“You can’t change your circumstances until you believe you control them. And you can’t control your circumstances until you decide to take responsibility for them.” – Mark Manson

Don’t settle for an environment that the time you invest is not valued or progressing you towards where you want to go. Continue searching for the environment that gives you direction in purpose, and if you cant find it, create it. Flow your energy to that space, and create your own environment that leads you in the direction you wish to go.

The crazy thing is, time puts a number on things, and that number is this guideline we look forward to for something different to happen. But you cannot control the future, all you have is the present moment, and you can only ever be in that moment. The present moment is what matters. That is all that you have control of. You can’t fast forward, you can’t rewind.

“Life is available only in the present moment” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Don’t look back don’t look forward, just be still and enjoy life, moment by moment. Make the most of the current time you have and if you are fortunate to keep receiving more time, then cherish that!

My final thought is thanks to a close friend of mine who once shared this with me, “time is a funny thing – the less you have, the more you want it. And the more you have, the easier it becomes to let it go to waste.” Time has it’s own way. Don’t let your time go to waste. Don’t be controlled by these numbers. Go out and utilize your time in the best ways you see for yourself. Make the most of the time you are offered, enjoy those moments and live boldly.

Time for Reflection

Published on by erikcpanzer

2017 has been an incredible year for me.

I have been very blessed to have stayed fit and healthy throughout the past 12 months as I continue to pursue football. This journey in 2017 took me to more countries, more places, than I could have imagined. The experiences I have had, the places I have visited and explored, have been incredible. The people I have met and the stories I have heard have been amazing. And the growth and development as a young man that has occurred in my life has been unmatched by any other prior experience.

2017 certainly hasn’t been easy as I have faced many challenges, making tough decisions like leaving a club, or investing in a rigorous training program, or being dropped to the bench. But I see all these challenges as lessons learned and an opportunity for growth. Although learned in football, these challenges are relative to the real world and these lessons learned give me life skills. They are lessons that I can grow from and utilize in the future when similar situations occur, whether in my own work place or whether I’m working with a client who is also in a similar situation. When times are tough, it makes me tougher and that will show true one day, near or far.

Some of the highlights were:

With all these experiences over the last 12 months, I am very excited to head into the new year with fire in my belly and a continued drive for success and adventure. Life is certainly unpredictable, and it definitely is not fair, so I look forward to embracing every opportunity that I get to develop myself and my wellbeing. The excitement of the unknown is nerving but thrilling. Knowing that there are so many more great experiences to be had, many more lessons to be learned, and best of all, more people to meet and be inspired by or even inspire them.
It is the people in my life that allow me to continue my purposeful journey. I am very thankful for the love and support from all those who assisted in my journey this year. Most importantly, I am grateful to be closer to home this holiday period and spend some precious quality time with my family.
I look forward to continuing to chase my dream in the new year!

The Fortunate Life

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To be here, writing this, and for you to be here, reading this, we are all blessed with life. Some people experience life in a different way, others live a less fortunate life than most, and so each day it is important to reflect on the fortunate life that you live. Having food in your cupboards, clothes in your drawer, water in your taps, a roof over your head; having either of these things leaves you in the higher percentage of fortunate people around the world. It is important to not take advantage of this. Make the most of the opportunity you have been given, to wake up every day and truly experience life. Justify why you were given the chance to live the life you have been blessed with. Don’t waste it, when there are so many people around the world who wish they were in your shoes, and had your opportunities.

I was given a gentle reminder earlier last week about the life that I am lucky to live. I was involved in the presentation of medals at the National Summer Games – Special Olympics NZ. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not taking anything away from these incredible athletes, their abilities, their appreciation for life and their ability to live life without inhibitions. What these athletes reminded me was that life is lived everyday by other people in different capacities. These humans also have a chance to play a sport they love, interact with their friends, and experience the feelings of jubilation and despair. All of these are just experienced in a different capacity.

Maybe what these humans experience is considered the fortunate life? I’m not here to make comparisons, I am just here to spread a message.
My message is for everyone in this world to be more appreciative of your abilities, opportunities, and experiences you have or are offered, because not everyone in this world is offered similar. No matter your situation, no matter your frustrations, I believe that it is important to sometimes take a step back from a frustrating situation to reflect and remember how fortunate you really are. Take a lesson from these athletes and live life without inhibitions. Don’t do things for the recognition of others, do things for yourself, and live life to the fullest capacity that you have been blessed with.

When I look at the bigger picture, my ability to play football has given me so much. It has given me the chance to travel the world, it has given me the chance to inspire others, it has given me the chance to meet so many people from different cultures. I wake up each day reflecting on how lucky I am to have a new chance, and a new opportunity to make the most of the day I have been gifted. I am physically capable of playing a sport I love, intellectually capable to converse with others, and consciously capable to know that today is a gift, and I am fortunate to live it.