Our expectations about what we can and cannot do, and about what we believe is possible for us, will affect our confidence and motivation. This means our self-belief and ability to tolerate the unknowns will either propel us forward or hold us back.
I'd like to share a little story to help illustrate this point.
One day a chicken farmer found an eagle egg. The farmer placed the egg under a brooding hen, and the little eaglet hatched right along with the chicks. The young eagle grew up with the chickens and did everything the chickens did.
Years passed. One day the eagle looked up to the sky and saw a magnificent bird soaring high above him. He was captivated by the grace of this creature, and he turned to the hens around him and asked, "Who is that?"
"That's the eagle, the king of the birds," the hens replied. "He belongs to the sky. We are chickens, and we belong to the earth." And so the eagle lived out the remainder of his years as a chicken, because that is what he thought he was.
The eagle never spread his wings because he didn't know it was possible. People often hold themselves back without even knowing it; we see ourselves as others see us, or we get stuck reciting old scripts and playing out old roles that are comfortable and familiar. We look up to the sky toward our dreams but leave them there as something to look up at and ponder at, yet never spreading our wings to see what's possible.
When young children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, their answers aren't cautious, but passionate. Their beliefs aren't stunted by doubts and fears. Their dreams aren't hampered by what-ifs and I can'ts.
Are we ready to dream big dreams again? Are we ready to look up toward the sky and see the possibilities? If you've been holding yourself back from going after something big, here are two key things to keep top of mind.
Stop the backpedal
Think of something you've been mulling around in the back of your mind; a dream or goal that has been planted as a seed but has yet to sprout. Sometimes we think of a possible goal we want to pursue and then immediately think of all the reasons it won't work. We move from feeling intrigued and excited to going down the laundry list of ways it won't be possible to accomplish. Stop the backpedal. Before we can experience something, we need to be able to see it in our minds; we need to be able to imagine that it could be possible for us. Take some time to visualize yourself in pursuit of the goal. Allow your mind to see the possibility.
Don't be afraid to fail
Do you find yourself avoiding big risks because staying where you are is better than failing? Fear of failure holds many athletes back from what they are truly capable of. We will never know what our limit is if we don't even come close to allowing ourselves to find out. We can't be afraid to fail. In fact, we need to flip the script entirely on failure and stop defining success as not failing. Success is defined by so much more than the outcome.
Consider the worst possible outcome in a particular situation. Often it's not as catastrophic as our fear makes it out to be. By calling out our fear and putting it into perspective, we can minimize its hold over us.
We need to find victory in the pursuit of something and the fact that we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone to go for it. Accomplishing the goal might be the icing on the cake, but it's not the cake. It's okay to believe. It's okay to dream big. It's okay to let yourself go for it.
Comments