“Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.”
John Wooden
A friend of mine, who we’ll call Michael has been working on a new project he is hoping to launch “sometime”.
I actually met with Michael to discuss this project over 6 months ago. When we met then, he was in the process of creating a lot of his material and strategies before he actually launched.
Yesterday, we spoke again. Michael is still creating, strategizing, and perfecting…
After listening to him ramble on about all of his strategies, all of the stuff he was creating, and his questions about how he could continue perfecting it all, he asked what I thought.
Sitting there for a minute while I fought to urge to just sugar coat things and tell him what he wanted to hear, I decided to take the tougher route and tell him what I thought would help him most.
Here’s my response:
“Michael, all of the work you’ve put into this is great. This project has a lot of potential.”
“But”…
“I feel like in all of your creating and perfecting, you are hiding.”
“You’re in the dojo doing katas by yourself, when you really need to be in there sparring. Getting hit, getting knocked down, and getting back up. Learning what works and what does not.”
“Start putting some of this project out there. Risk getting rejected. Risk having your feelings hurt. LEARN! This is the only way that you’re going to get better in my opinion.”
I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I do know that the people who improve the most in anything are the ones who practice the best. They don’t avoid what’s hard or what makes them uncomfortable.
In fact, they do the opposite.
They search for weaknesses and then they face them head on and keep chipping away at those weaknesses until they become strengths.
In what aspects of your life are you doing katas when you really need to make yourself vulnerable, step into the ring, and start sparring?
For personalized help and accountability with the things that you value email robert@WagingWarOnNormal.com to find out if Peak Performance Coaching is right for you!
