"Where minds are open, there will always be a frontier."
- Anonymous

Today we live in a challenging world that consists of constant change. What we used to know is often irrelevant; something in which we use to rely is often unreliable, and what we used to find comfortable may now be awkward. This realization may help amplify the concept of keeping an open mind. There's a delicate balance to strike between having focus and determination, and being flexible and open-minded. Overall, however, it's critical to be open-minded when navigating through our day to day lives in order to see the frontier that is out there. After seeing this picture I took of my daughter recently, it helped put this into perspective - she's not even aware of the confining nature of the wooden slats from her crib, but rather looking past them onto what awaits her beyond her bed.

I've mentioned in many posts prior to this one that it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day doldrums of our work lives. The routine of the nine-to-five that you spend with the same people day in and day out often steers you down a path of being on auto-pilot, and heading in the wrong direction! We create a comfort zone from which we don't want to deviate, and therefore we may miss opportunities to expand and grow beyond the routine we live in today. The unfortunate side affect is that we often start to react in a closed-minded fashion, not wanting to break away from what we know and are comfortable with. Take the next opportunity you get, or create an opportunity for yourself, to change it up a little and break the cycle. You may be surprised at what you learn about yourself or the business you're in, and the frontier that you haven't reached yet.

Our home lives are much the same as our work lives and often the result of one largely affects the other. If you find yourself uninspired at home, you're likely to bring that to your workplace, and vice-versa. Depending on where you're at in life, there may be a time period in which you have built in game-changers such as moving homes, having children, changing jobs, etc. Just be careful that once those transitions are complete that you don't wind up getting stuck in a routine where you find yourself uninspired and unmotivated. Continue to seek out ways to not become complacent by looking beyond the environment you are already familiar with and try something new. This will help keep your mind open and discover frontiers you likely never knew existed.