Are you full of ideas?
Is your Pinterest board filled with pins?
Do you have a ‘want-to-do list’ a mile long?
I do. I have so many ideas. But more than that, I have so many reasons NOT TO DO any of those ideas.
It cost too much money.
I don’t know where to begin.
I don’t have the time.
What if no one else thinks it’s a good idea?
I would need help to do it.
I don’t know where to get the ___ to do it.
What if I fail?
Do any of those phrases sound familiar? I am pretty sure I have thought every one of them…possibly even this week.
It’s Nothing New
When I was in high school I was on the track and tennis teams. Was I the star? Hardly. Even as the first seed tennis player my senior year, I still could hardly be considered a star when you considered the other first seeds at other schools. I loved both sports and I was decent at both of them. But there is no doubt in my mind I could have been better.
Why you ask? Because I didn’t try. I don’t mean that walked out on the track/court with the intention of losing. I did try to win. But when the going got tough, I pretended not to care. If I pretended not to care then people wouldn’t feel as bad for me when I lost.
I don’t think I necessarily knew I was doing this when I was younger. But I am certainly aware of it now.
“Damn the Torpedos”
About a year ago, my Great Aunt Sharon was reading about my venture into beginning VIPKID as well as some other ventures. She sent me an email and told me I could borrow her motto which she “had snitched from some general”. Her motto is:
Damn the torpedos. Full steam ahead.
David Farragut, an officer in the Union navy in the Civil War
I can’t think of a phrase more appropriate at the moment. Forget about the torpedos that lie ahead. Don’t dwell on the things that could go wrong. Don’t be stopped by the things you may or may not be able to do. Stop making excuses, pray about it, then move ahead.
Declare Your Choices
At church a few weeks ago, the preacher said this:
Declare what your choices will be.
His point being that if you say aloud something, you are more likely to do it. If you tell people what you want, they will wait expectantly to see if you get it. Others will hold you accountable for what you have declared.
This is what I didn’t want when I was in high school. If I declared that I wanted to win and that I’d given it all I had, then that was proof that I wasn’t as good and people would see that I tried and I failed.
Trying and Failing Doesn’t Make YOU a Failure
No one WANTS to fail. And no one wants to be viewed as a failure.
Like so many others, I tried my hand at direct-sales. I just knew I could do it. It was an educational product for children. Who better to sell it than a teacher with children? My mom had sold the same thing when I was little and I had played with the same toys decades ago. And, bonus, no one else sold this product within over 100 miles of me.
So, I bought in. And a tried. I had a few parties. I tried the new online selling. But I quickly realized that kind of business was not for me. I’m not a sales person.
But I didn’t learn that lesson in just one try. When I moved to Montana, I tried again. And, again, I learned sales is just not for me.
On paper it looks as though I’ve failed. To people who bought from me in the past, it appears I have failed. But, I learned something about myself, and I can not wonder ‘what if’.
What Do I Need to Declare?
If I put it here for the world to see, then it’s really real…!
So I’ll declare TWO things for you today:
1) The oh-so-typical declaration of every thirty-year old woman weeks after she’s had a baby and right before bathing suit season: I WILL WORKOUT. Let’s just say that I bought nine bathing suits to try on and every one of them was sent back. And after seeing the pictures of myself wearing them, I realized something needed to change. Not for others but for myself. And this isn’t baby weight that still needs to be lost. This is the five pounds of chocolate chips I have consumed in the past few months, and the cookies, and the ice cream, and the pasta…
So, I took the step and bought the famous Beachbody workouts for home. Today is Day 3 and I’ve yet to do my workout. Here’s to getting it in sometime today.
My partial workout buddy. Trying to do some sit-ups…
2) I have talked about starting my own school/preschool for years. When we moved here the possibility actually seemed feasible. But for two years I have made every excuse that I listed at the beginning of this post. About a year ago, I did make a tiny step into making it happen but then backed away again.
On Friday, I finally made the first leap. I stopped thinking twelve steps ahead and just thought about Step 1. So, tomorrow, I have a meeting. It could be a meeting that changes everything or a meeting that makes me realize this isn’t that path I want to go down. Either way, I made the first step.
What Can You Declare Today?
I would place a bet that there is something that you want to do that you are putting off. Is it a Pinterest project? (Side note: I actually accomplished ONE Pinterest project last summer. That was a huge accomplishment!) Is it a lifestyle change? Is it just a book you want to read? Or a career change? Or maybe even a vacation you’ve been wanting to take? DECLARE IT!
I dare you to place your declaration in the comments below. And if you’re brave, share what’s holding you back. If I can do it, you can too!