Too often I hear I don’t have the time. I don’t have enough resources. I don’t have enough energy, or whatever. The truth is the path to unfilled potential is littered with I don’t have’s.
I don’t have is just another way of saying I quit. It’s just a little less provocative, a little bit of a safer way to let our dreams die, but die they will if that is our mindset.
I was reminded of this when I saw this video
It is so easy to say I don’t have three arms, which is true. Or I can do this I might drop my baby. Or hell no, I might spill my beer.
But no, he was motivated to catch the ball, but also keep the baby safe, and not lose any beer.
So he found a way.
He found a way to do all three and he did it in a split second.
For some of us, we have way longer and yet still let our goals slip from our grasp and let another dream die alone.
I experienced this myself when I want to write my first book. I was full of I don’t haves. I don’t have anything to really write about, I don’t have great writing skills. Or I don’t have the time or have the knowledge.
Literally, if I’d written down all the things I believed I didn’t have I could probably have had half the words for the book.
At exactly the same time I’d been asked to run a Marathon relay with 4 other people, so basically I had to run around 10k. And yet this dream died too, again I don’t haves were the main reason. I didn’t have the time to do it, I didn’t have the energy I had when I was younger.
I had written my first book, and had completed my first marathon. Not a 10k but my first marathon.
How did I do that?
By finding the right motivation, and by focusing on what I did have.
I wanted to run a marathon to raise money for cancer charity, as seven of my female friends were all going through chemo. And for the book, I wanted to show my boss he was wrong and I did know about leadership.
With this motivation, I reprioritized things and found 2 hrs each morning where I would go run, usually up to 10k. Then come back shower and write an article, or a chapter for my book.
Like the dad in the video, I juggled things and found a way to get them all done.
We are all capable of so much more, but we let our negative self-talk and the ‘I don’t haves’ hold us back and keep us playing a small game and leaving us stuck in our comfort zone.
If you want to know more about achieving your full potential email me at gordon@gordontredgold/com and let’s arrange a time to talk about how I can help.
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