I recently joined a running club. I’ve really enjoyed running with such a great group of people. Not only are they awesome, but at every location they run at they have a shorter/slower path and a long run path. They’ve pushed me to push myself further and further each week. When I started, I couldn’t run two miles consecutively. I hung back and ran the track around the lake rather than going out on the open road. So imagine how proud I was of myself when I joined the pack for a six-mile run. Granted, I didn’t run the entire six miles but it was the furthest I’d pushed myself in well over a year. I was happy to be making progress.The next week, I joined the crew at a new location. A new friend asked me which path I was running and I said the shorter path. Although the long path was the same mileage I conquered the week before, this path was over a bridge that has an incline grade of 5.5%. I proceeded to tell him that I’m not ready to run the bridge. Out of nowhere I hear, ‘You’re never ready. You just have to do it.’ I didn’t realize it but Kari was listening and decided to join our conversation. You see Kari is a young, spry woman in her 60s. Was I just called out by a young lady in her 60s? Apparently so!
Kari went on to say, ‘If you waited to run a race until you were ready, you’d never race. You sign up for a race to force yourself to get ready.’ Needless to say, I ran the bridge route. I couldn’t be publicly called out and not rise to the challenge.
Kari’s challenge really resonated with me. Later that day, I sat on the couch (mostly because my legs were inoperable) recalling the morning and I asked myself, what else am I missing out on because I’ve told myself that I’m not ready? Have I missed opportunities to grow as a person or to grow my business?
What have you told yourself you’ll do next week or next month or heaven forbid, next year?
Ammie’s Assignment: Make a list of the things that will help launch your business to the next level and assign dates for accomplishing them. If you wait until you’re ready, you risk never accomplishing them. If you set goals and timelines for accomplishing them you give yourself motivation and accountability for taking incremental steps to accomplishing your goals.
