Queen
This is the final week of Challenge Yourself, where everything you’ve learned up until now comes together in the most concrete way, and in the context of pure GROWTH!
Last week’s blog was about staying the course when you’ve set yourself a Challenge, or even in the face of any Challenges that might get thrown your way. Remember, discomfort is a part of Growth, but it doesn’t mean that you should stop Growing. Staying the course is, in the long run, significantly more satisfying than walking away for a quick boost – especially when you know full well that you can give yourself a quick boost at any time and still get back to whatever it is you’re struggling with. It increases your level of self-trust, it gives you a concrete understanding of your abilities to come through for yourself, and it reinforces the mindset that you can become more than through the process of trial and error.
This week, I want to leave you with a thought that I want you to take away and really come to terms with.
There is a difference between belief and knowledge. A belief is a set of ideas that you have established for yourself, based on a set of feelings that you have and certain evidence you might have collected that supports that belief. You think it’s true, but it might not be. There is no actual proof one way or another, you’re just following clues and your intuition. Knowledge is a belief that has actually been proven to be true.
At this stage, you’ve built a set of beliefs that have supported your journey to Growth, and those will be very firm beliefs. Your mantras, your testing things out for yourself, and your arming yourself with the appropriate tools all, to date, heavily support your belief in yourself.
Now is the time to gain knowledge of who you are, and what you can do. Beyond acquiring the belief that you can do something, you need to give yourself actual proof of the beliefs that you are now holding, in order to solidify them in the long-term.
Ok, this might not make sense just yet, but bear with me.
When you looked at the prospect of a Challenge, did you have a little internal “eek” moment, a doubt that you’d be able to actually carry it through successfully? Or maybe you thought to yourself that now is just not the time, you’ve settling into a “good” zone, one where you feel really comfortable about who you are and you’re just not ready to rock that vision of yourself just yet?
Well… if any of this rings true, it’s because your beliefs can prove less sturdy when truly put under pressure. If you’ve ever had an existential crisis, a religious crisis, a life crisis, you’ll know that beliefs can often be less reliable in the face of adversity, and you’ll know that that’s ok. But for your beliefs to nurture and support you, they MUST be strengthened with proof…find the supporting evidence.
To my Queens who feel that they might not be there “just yet”, who are eeking a bit, who are running into frustration or anger over their discomfort, know that it’s all a part of the process. Whatever it is that you feel is sticking you to a place in your Challenge, you can absolutely overcome. Arm yourself with the belief that you can do it, and give yourself the goal to transform that belief into knowledge.
Remember, stick through with the Challenge, until you’ve reached your goal. If you’re looking to run a marathon and you don’t make the time you’ve set for yourself, you’ve completed the Challenge and you’ll train more for next time, in order to come closer to your time goal. If you’ve set yourself up the Challenge of approaching 10 new people and only managed to get to 5, you’ve completed the Challenge and you’ll adapt your strategy so that next time, you’ll come closer to your target of 10.
Work on turning the belief that you can Grow, you can work hard and become better for it, that you have the tools to confront discomfort and walk away with more, instead of less… into KNOWLEDGE. Be your own proof.
All right Queen, with that being said, align your mindset to the tasks you have before you, and go hard. I’m rooting for you with all my heart, but there should be nobody rooting for you harder than you. Stick by your side, and keep going. You’ll be building your knowledge database sooner than you think.
Fix your crown.
