You know how there’s supposed to be this thing you’re doing in life of “getting to know yourself”? You’re out there trying to to figure out what is most important to you, how and with whom you want to spend your time, and most of all…WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT. You know, so you can do more of that, and less of the things you aren’t so good at.
That’s smart right? Leveraging your strengths, going from good to indisputably great.
I mean, yeah. Sure. If you like playing it relatively safe most of the time.
So, let’s say you’re really good at figuring out what you’re really good at doing. You maneuver your way right into that sweet spot where most of what you do works out and you’re pretty much never wrong.
You know the other name for that spot, right?
It’s called a corner.
Not a whole lot of growth coming out of there. I mean, you’ll do well, and that may feel good — for a while. But eventually, some little part of you is going to start to wonder…
What else am I capable of? Are there other things I might be able to get good at — or at least enjoy trying — if I were willing to get over the need to be perfect and right and GREAT all the time?
What if you didn’t care if you looked ridiculous doing something new? What if you knew that failure isn’t a dead end, but refusing to grow is?
What if the boundaries you set up to protect yourself were actually walls holding you back?
Good news: they’re movable.
Take a step sideways. Veer off the well-worn path. Fall down. Get a little messy. Make a mistake, and live to tell about it.
Better yet, live to learn to love the feeling of your limitations evaporating, and push other people to do the same.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” ~Marianne Williamson
Photo credit: Joel Filipe
