I've been thinking about how everything turns out better when we actually believe in ourselves. My dad used to take me to this diner where they had an omelet station. I used to watch the guy making them and he flipped those bad boys with such ease. He was a pro. I made an egg white omelet for myself often for breakfast and I started to emulate what he did. At first, it was a mess. I would try to flip it over and bits of mushrooms and egg would fly all over. But I kept practicing. Sometimes they turn out horribly. Other times they look just beautiful. But here is the thing I figured out for sure. When I believe in the fact that I can flip that omelet flawlessly, most times can. But when I worry about the mess I might make if it doesn't go as planned and worry it don't go as planned, it usually doesn't. I have to believe I can flip that sucker or it won't work.
This is a metaphor for all things in life. You have to believe in your ability to do something. When you doubt yourself it often turns out messy and not the way you hoped it would turn out. But when you just know deep down inside that you are doing it right...it often looks near perfect. And here is the bonus...the more you do it, the even better you get, the stronger your belief becomes and before you know it, it will be second nature. Whatever it is you are doing.
But you will suck at first. Whatever it is you want to do, if you haven't done it before...you will suck at it. Until you don't. That guy flipping omelets at the diner has probably been doing it for years so it really is second nature to him. That's how it will be for you too. I remember when I was considering a career change I was so afraid of having to do things I never did before. A friend of mine just kept saying...you will learn, you will learn. I have always been afraid of trying to learn new things. Now I realize it is because I hate to suck at things. But we have to in order to grow. It's just a plain truth of life. I recently read a book about growth vs. fixed mindset. I have a fixed mindset. I seem to believe I have learned all I can at this point and I'm just "not good" at other things. That is not true. We can figure out how to do anything. We just have to commit to learning it and suffer through the "being bad at it" part before we start to get the hang of it. People that have a growth mindset already know this. They know they will be learning new things throughout their life and actually look forward to change and new challenges. That was mind blowing to me!
Do you want to be a better cook? Then, you have to be willing to have a few bad meals before things will start to click for you. Do you want to learn an instrument? You will sound awful at first. Then, if you keep at it, you will start producing beautiful notes. Do you want to start a new hobby? Great, do it! But it may be hard and not even fun at first. But you will get better at it. At some point, it will become second nature. There will come a time when it will be hard to believe that you were scared to do it at all.
Just like I was mentioning on the podcast yesterday. I'm going to figure out how to use this darn Mac. It's been challenging and now I'm going to ask for help. But I know I can do it. I'm smart. I have google, YouTube and other people to help me along the way. I believe it is worth it to struggle through in order to get to the good stuff. Because there is good stuff inside this machine! There better be! I can't wait to unlock them all!
Just commit to sucking at something until you don't. And you will get better as long as you keep doing it. And then keep doing it. You can't do something good once and expect to pick up where you left off six months ago. You have to keep practicing and exploring and trying new ways of doing it to figure out your niche. And then it's so worth it.
People, it's "I wish it were cocktail Friday" Thursday. One more day to the freaking weekend. Put some thought into something you've always wanted to do but talked yourself out of it by saying, I'm just not good at that. You are correct. You aren't...yet! Get going and make today, your best day yet.
Comments