I was playing pickleball the other day and it was not my day. I couldn’t get a serve right. I couldn’t hit the ball back in bound. I generally just sucked all around. So, you know what I did? I quit. I walked away saying it just wasn’t my day and I would play the next time. Why did I do that? Because I was embarrassed. I was tired of looking like a loser in front of my friends and some people I didn’t even know. But here’s the thing. My friends don’t care if I totally suck. They are my friends. They may think to themselves; “wow, she is really bad” but who cares? This is not a professional league. This is a neighborhood group that got together with the intent to learn. I had a bad day. But I made it worse by quitting.
I think that once I realized it was not going well for me I just lost confidence in myself. Then I couldn’t do anything right. It was by far the worst day of pickleball I had ever played, aside from maybe the first time. I stopped believing in myself. It’s okay. We live and learn. Next time I won’t give up. I know I am better than I was that day and the only way to prove that is to keep doing it.
I’m also realizing I’m not really going about building this business in the proper way. I have a long way to go before it can officially be called a business. I listen to a lot of podcasts about small business and am figuring out that I have skipped a lot of steps when it comes to building a business. I was told to focus on building my brand for the first few months. I have done that and have had some success. But I haven’t really figured out what comes next. There is a lot to still figure out and do. In the past I may have just given up and said this obviously isn’t for me. But not anymore. Not this time, homey! This time I am taking my mistakes and learning from them, building from them, and planning from them.
This will one day be a household name. I believe this with every fiber of my being. It may take longer than I hope but there will come a day when everyone knows what a Hopefulist is and what this Hopefulist does. I will be doing my blog and podcast with your daily dose of inspiration and positivity. Plus, I will be releasing books. I will do speaking events. And some day I will host my own conference.
I don’t have to know all the basics right now. (well, I probably should know more than I do) I just have to know where I’m going and believe that I will get there. The path will unveil itself. I will figure out things as I go along. I will make mistakes but I will have successes as well. In fact, it’s a little ridiculous to think I would know all the basics of running my own business because hello, I’ve never done it before. I will get there. I will figure it out. If I haven’t learned something and it’s holding me back, I will fix it. I will learn it. I will do it.
It’s about confidence. It’s about believing in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself how could you expect anyone else to. And don’t be embarrassed by your dream. I know there are people who are mocking what I do. I don’t care. They aren’t my people. They don’t have to listen to my podcast or pay attention to my social media accounts. Don’t let fear or embarrassment stop you. Don’t you do it!
What is something you think you gave up on too easily? Can you get back into it? No one expects you to be perfect. But you can only learn by doing.
It’s “I wish it were cocktail Friday”, Thursday. And Halloween! Are you giving out candy at your house tonight? Have fun and eat way too much candy. You are allowed tonight! Now, go make it your best day yet!
Please check out my website. It’s your one stop spot for everything “The Hopefulist”. Hopefulist.com.
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