Embrace Challenge

You can develop yourself and abilities, but I didn’t always believe this.  

I’ve failed at a lot of things in my life and I used to experience failure with a feeling of shame which created a lack of self worth.  I wasn’t good at much when I was growing up. I tried playing the piano, violin, oboe, tap dancing, lacrosse, cheerleading. I wasn’t good at any of it.  I used to think that because it didn’t come naturally or easy, that I didn’t have any skill or talent. The truth is, I didn’t give much effort to becoming skilled at those things.  

I expected things to come easy, so when it wasn’t easy, I would quit or give up because I thought there was something wrong with me.  This idea that things should be easy has held me back over the years, in relationships, work and my hobbies.  

There are 2 ways to approach life.  Embrace challenge or fear risk.

Failure inevitable.  

Once I accepted that failure is a natural part of growing into the person I wanted to be, I learned to love failure. After my divorce in 2011, I was paralyzed by the fear of failure.  Over time I have retrained my brain to see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow and every time I’ve failed, I’ve learned something.  I’ve learned how to do it better or to be better. In the fixed mindset, failure is the end. In the growth mindset, failure is the beginning!

“Love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort and keep on learning.”

- Carol Dweck

Once I started working hard towards my goals without the fear of failing - I started accomplishing things I never thought possible.  

So next time something is hard or you don’t succeed right away, remember it’s supposed to be hard.  There is no substitute for discipline and hard work. Your drive and enthusiasm will always outwork talent and abilities.  When I expect things to be easy I don’t give it my best effort and when I don’t give it my best effort- I never yield good results.  It just doesn’t happen. Expect it to be hard.

Embrace the challenge and put in the work that is required to get the results that you want. 

If you are not good at something, instead of thinking you will never be good at it because it doesn’t come naturally, next time say - I am not good at it because haven’t put in the amount of work and effort it would take to be good at it.  Then you just have to decide if you want to do what is actually required.  

Becoming a leader means getting clear on what you want, what you need, what you feel and who you are.  

If you aren’t getting the results you want, ask yourself - is this really what I want and if yes, am I putting in the effort that is required?   

Need help getting clear on what you want? Click the button below.

Here to serve,

Mishelle