Whether you’re on Instagram or other social media sites, you hear lots of people talk about the importance of staying in your lane. What does that mean? For some, that might mean they’re going to focus in one area, and that’s it. For others, there might be situations where they stick to what they know best. For me, when I hear those words, staying in your lane, I think about doing the things that I am best at, that bring me the most satisfaction and happiness. We only have so much time on this planet, and we should focus on doing things that we actually enjoy.
Staying in Your Lane & Confidence
I am confident in what I know. But I’m also confident saying there are things that I don’t know. It’s important to me that I stay in my lane and don’t pretend to know everything about every single thing that’s out there. I know where I’m strong, and I know where I’m weak. For me, it’s crucial to operate in my zone of strength because that’s where I know I can be most successful. For me, I equate confidence with knowing your lane, and ultimately staying in it.
I aim to stay in my lane. You should do the same. If you are outstanding working with spreadsheets and data, then do that. Be the spreadsheet guy or gal. If you’re comfortable leading a team and that’s something that you are very much interested in doing, work on becoming a better leader, manager, or supervisor. Don’t waste your time, of which you have a limited amount of, doing something that you don’t like to do.
Stop Pretending
Some people pretend to be happy. There’s nothing worse than pretending to be someone else in a role that you hate. It’s exhausting to be working in a position that you are either not good at or not happy doing. If you know yourself and you have incredible self-awareness, you can lead a happy and successful life. You need to be authentic, though.
Far too many people are miserable living somebody else’s life working and trading their time for money in a career or a job they don’t like. It’s essential to make sure that you stop being the person that you don’t want to be and choose not to be miserable. Choose to be happy, and that means staying in your lane.
Be Yourself
Whatever your lane is, stay in it. Now some people might think that I’m saying they shouldn’t try new things or experiment. I’m not saying that. Look, I’m a big believer that people should try many different things and see what works for them. Doing so is the only way you’re going to know whether you like something or you detest doing it. When you find something that you enjoy that makes you feel incredibly comfortable, you should spend as much time doing that as you possibly can. Be yourself in whatever version of yourself you want to be. You need to find fulfillment. For example, for me, that was creating my podcast, The Chris Hanna Show. I loved the creative process, developing the roadmap of what’s to come in future episodes.
Final Thoughts
There’s no point slogging through life being miserable and hating everything that you do. Many people work most of their lives doing things that they don’t want to do so that you can spend the tail end of your life doing something that you want. We have it backward. You need to find the things that you enjoy and spend your time doing those while you can, whenever you can, as much as you can. That’s how you’re going to be happy and prosperous. My definition of success is happiness. I think more people need to look at it the same way. Stay in your lane, focus on what you know, doing what makes you happy, and you can be the most successful overall.
