What would hold you back?
Well, according to Flippen, there are certain behaviours that work as "killer constraints" and hold you back. He describes the top 10 types as follows:
1- Bulletproof (overconfident)
People that are under this constraint are usually opinionated, hard to admit fault and reacts negatively while receiving feedback.
2- Ostriches (Low Self-Confidence)
As the name suggests, individuals that tend to be “ostriches” lack confidence, care extremely about what other people think of them and find it tremendously hard to move on from their mistakes.
3- Marshmallows (Overly Nurturing)
Marshmallows are known as holding a personality that struggles to say “no”, having difficulties to say what they really think and are usually overcommitted and worn out owing to the dedication that they cannot provide but try it anyway.
4- Critics (Too Demanding, Nitpicky or Harsh)
Critics do have high expectations of themselves and others. They are sceptical of ideas and opinions and tend to focus on the mistakes that others make.
5- Icebergs (Low Nurturing)
People tend to think that it is hard to “read” the iceberg type. The latter tends to have few close relationships and strives to express affection and emotions.
6- Flatliners (Low Passion, Vision, or Drive)
Flatliners find it hard to motivate themselves and recurrently procrastinate. Not rare people misinterpret their laid-back tendencies, in the view of Flatliners, of course.
7- Bulldozers (Overly Dominant)
Analysing the name by its origin, it is easy to reckon that being in control is important to a bulldozer. This type has strong opinions and it seems (to others) that they do not care about someone else’s ideas. This sort of constraint has also the characteristic of finishing other people’s sentences.
8- Turtles (Resistant to Change)
Changes and uncertainty will definitely make you nervous if you are a turtle. Besides, you will find it hard to switch directions easily and you tend to stick to “tried-and-true” approaches.
9- Volcanoes (Aggressive, Angry)
The last word in an argument will be yours. Full stop. Emotions escalate when you are challenged and you regularly get frustrated with people. Yeah... you are a volcano.
10- Quick Draw (Low Self-Control, Impulsive)
Thriving on spontaneity, quick in decision and getting bored effortlessly, as the name explains.
Therefore, Flip states that we all have personal constraints. For instance, we sometimes deal with events that happened in our childhood that made us behave in the way we do. In addition to it, you may face the fact that you have to work with people that have been through hard experiences and present some of the characteristics found in the top 10 constraints above. In order to “solve” the issues that may raise whilst dealing with individuals like these, the author provides pieces of advice.
However, the climax of this book is found towards the end of it, in which Flip shares his personal story, describing the episodes that took place in his childhood that contributed to his passion regarding this subject. It is delightfully explained by Flippen how his problems with his father, who used to beat him in numerous occasions, his uninterruptedly failures at school, his parents’ rows that always ended up with him getting beaten carried a great value to encourage him to overcome them.
Moreover, all of these facts made him understand that our home is the best place to spot our constraints. He had to overcome many of them and nowadays he is the head of “The Flippen” Group, a corporate training company in the U.S, the larger educator training company in North America.
This is an inspirational story that eggs you on changing for the best. Many a person believes that the way we are born is the way we will always be. Yet, there is a place for change. It is up to you to fill it in with the transformations in need.
Larissa Fauber