Evolve U

Get Out of Your Own Way

26th October, 2009 - Posted by Shaunice Hawkins - No Comments

I have a confession to make: I am my own worst enemy.  Really, I am…  I can’t tell you how often I’ve talked myself out of things – from making major financial investments to taking high risk opportunities.  Without fail, my default reaction to any significant uncertainty is to say, “no.” Thankfully, I stopped listening to “me” a long time ago.  Perhaps you (and you know who you are) should stop listening to “you” as well.

Being the Type A/Alpha Female personality that I can be, before I would consider a venture in the past, I needed to know all the pros and cons.  I wanted bar charts, linear graphs, financial reports  - whatever proof necessary to help me commit to a decision with the least amount of risk possible.  You see, my response was generally less about fear of the unknown and more about comfort and security in what was known.  That “one foot on the ground at all times” trait was fundamentally important to my personal sense of safety and stability, however it was not always beneficial.  As a matter of fact, that type of safe thinking proved detrimental in some cases because it impeded my professional (and in some cases, personal) progress rather than fostered success.  I’ve since learned that “without risk there can be no reward” and ”the greater the risk, the greater the reward.” 

Opportunities come to test our faith – faith in God, faith in ourselves and faith in what’s been given to us: our talents, skills and abilities.  All the requisite fact-checking I had done was my way of affirming, “you’re not good enough,” “this isn’t the right time,” “there’s no way you can do this,” “God made a mistake” “‘they’ were right about you”…  I found that I was talking myself down (and out) before I allowed myself the chance to look up (at all the possibilities). I was a woman without faith and was getting in my own way.

“Getting in your own way” is, in essence,  like traveling down a road and finding it blocked.   You consult your maps and analyze the GPS for alternative routes, but considering the roadblock in front of you (its ominous size and weight compared to your stature), you determine the risks of travel too great and the reward in reaching your intended goal no longer significant.  Instead of negotiating around the roadblock, you decide to turn away thus allowing the roadblock to determine your movement and wane your current and perhaps future intentions for forward travel. 

Our mindsets must be changed.  While over-thinking , over-analyzing and over fact-checking offer safety and protection against risk, they also shield against reward.  We have to learn that while it’s okay to be safe, it’s also okay to be spontaneous.  Spontaneity allows for creative juices to flow and ideas to form.  It catalyzes inspiration, triggers motivation (both of which lead to innovation).  Sometimes, just sometimes, we have to ”GO FOR IT!!” (whatever “it” is).  No safeguarding from risk will ever be as satisfying as reward feels. 

Right now!  Today!  Without premeditated thought, thesis defense or powerpoint presentation…Let’s start a new business!  Write a book!  Get an MBA!  Learn another language!  Let’s allow ourselves to live fully and freely without constraint.  Let’s remind ourselves how smart, gifted and talented we are.  Let’s capitalize on our strength, reclaim our power and win!    We can be so much more than what we are and can travel further than we ever thought possible if we remember to have faith in God, ourselves and our talents, skills and abilities… and if we get out of our own way.

Helpful Links:

• How to start a new business
• How to write a book
• How to get an MBA
• How to learn another language

 

FINAL THOUGHT
“Is life not a thousand times too short for us to stifle ourselves?” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche