Posted: April 26, 2024 at 6:47 am
Recently we’ve either been doing a lot of new things or sharing milestones from journeys that started with doing something new. Some of those I have shared in recent emails, and others have been a bit more behind the scenes.
And doing new things can be scary.
Nobody wants to fail.
Nobody wants to feel embarrassed that others are succeeding and they are not.
So, sometimes it feels safer to just stay in your comfort zone.
The problem with that is you will never know what you’re capable of.
Going on live TV to present during the morning news might scare a lot of people. You might be worried about tripping and falling on camera, or stumbling over your words, or in our case dropping a kettlebell.
But what if you crush it? What if the segment turns out fantastic? You’ll never know unless you try.
Starting a new martial art can be scary. Clearly, everyone else there is going to know more than you know. They are going to be better at it than you. You won’t know the movements, the terminology, the protocols, really you won’t know anything. You might be worried that you will be terrible, that you’ll never get good at the techniques and tactics.
But what might happen if you stick with it? Day-by-day you might get a little better. You’ll learn some moves. You’ll learn some terminology. You’ll learn some protocols. You’ll learn some tactics. At first you’ll probably lose all you matches – but then you finally win one. Then another. Then another. Then one day, probably years later, you might be awarded your black belt.
I get that trying new things can be scary. BUT, doing scary things is usually the only way to grow, and is a prerequisite for accomplishing great things.
When considering trying something new most people’s internal dialogue is centered around the “what if I fail” conversation. I challenge you to flip the script, and center it around the “what if I succeed” mentality.
So, whatever it is that you’re thinking of trying … jiu jitsu, strength training, judo, mountain biking, learning a musical instrument … I say go for it 💪
-Tony
