Over the weekend back in May 2021, I did a presentation on self-identity to some medical professionals, care takers and some patients with sickle cell anemia.
There were laughs and there were breakthroughs, and lots of “ah ha” moments!
There was a great discussion during this presentation where a lot of questions that were asked.
A question asked by one of the event organizers went like:
“Why aren’t people taking advantage of resources we work hard to put together for everyone?”
I think this is a question every leader has asked at some point (I know I have asked it many times)
While I don’t have a definitive answer, I can give some experience from my early days in this business.
It didn’t take long for me to notice that everyone is different and everyone is at a different point of their journey.
Some only want to dabble and treat it as a side hustle.
There is nothing wrong with that at all (it’s what I used to do)
Others see the opportunity in this business and want to dive head first.
Being on both sides of this, I noticed the difference between the 2 approaches.
Results.
When I dabbled, I didn’t get real results, but playing full out, I am.
It seems obvious now, but back then I didn’t get it.
When I had a small goal, I was never satisfied when I accomplish said goal.
It wasn’t that the goal was too easy, it was that my goal wasn’t what I actually wanted.
Damn, thinking about it, I put myself in a lose-lose situation!
If I didn’t get the small goal, I would get upset since I didn’t get what I set out for.
Also, since I went for something “easier” or “more realistic”, not getting that goal was a huge blow to my self-esteem.
On the other hand, when I did hit such meager goals, I was still disappointed.
Its like aiming not to be in last place in a foot race, and then getting upset that I wasn’t on the podium with the other winners.
The question I had to ask myself was “why not dive in and give my best effort and see where I end up?”
The answer isnt something I’m proud of, but for me, I didn’t believe I could do it.
I didn’t think my outcome would change, so I was afraid to fail, since I used to think “failing” was painful.
At the same time, I still wanted to hide behind the “at least I tried” lie to save face to friends and family.
It wasn’t until much later in my journey that I truly realized the saying “Money follows mastery.”
I learned that I dont need to be the best…just good enough.
To be good enough, I just had to master 1 thing…and that was to do more than the average person.
(the good news is that the avg person doesn’t do much, so surpassing their effort was easy, lol)
Once I got that into my mind, the feeling of needing “more research” or needing to do things perfectly kinda went away.
I didn’t feel like I needed permission to take action on what little info I had.
I actually set goals I was excited about (that were also a lil scary) and I went for them, not worrying about anything other than giving my best effort.
I’m much happier with everything, even when things don’t go as planned.
I learned so much more since this approach, and I “level up” much faster than I anticipated.
The “No dabbling!” and “Give your best effort” mantra has served me well lately, maybe it can serve you well too?
You won’t know until you try 