Have you ever wanted to do something, but you were always faced with the fear of not being able to do it? Me too!
After writing my last post about “Intentionally Eliminating the Word Regret”, I thought I should share a little more about the Be, Plan, Do Mindset. It’s what has started to help me to begin eliminating regret and conquering my fears. Be, Plan, and Do has helped me to recognize the life I’ve always dreamed, plan for ways to make it happen, then doing exactly what I’ve planned with the great expectation that I’m going to be successful. So here’s what that looks like.
I can’t be who I’m supposed to be if I’m telling myself that I’m not that person.
Since my conversation with our pediatrician, I really began to think about what things I’ve always wanted in my life. Read more about this in my post “Intentionally Eliminating the Word Regret”.
What things would I regret? One thing came to my mind right away. I’ve always wanted to be a runner, but I’ve never been successful at it. I’ve started programs and yet I’ve never stuck with it. I used to give the following excuses:
1) I’m a short distance sprinter—I can’t run long distances.
2) Oh, I have asthma.
3) I have bad knees.
4) Who has time?
I used to tell myself, I’m not a runner—even though all along I wanted to be one. Now, did I directly say to myself, “Sonya, you are not a runner?” No, not in those words, but every time I gave myself an excuse or whenever I’d talk with others I would in fact say, “I’m not a runner.” So, tell me, how can you ever be a runner, if you don’t believe it? You can’t. Essentially, I was telling myself—“You can never be a runner” even though I honestly desired to be one.
It’s a change in your thinking that produces real change.
For so many years I had been telling myself I wasn’t a runner. So I started asking myself, why? I gave so many excuses, but the more I asked the question why, nothing held up. They were all excuses and it basically came down to fear. I was afraid of failing at running.
The great Zig Ziglar used to say that fear was just “false evidence appearing real”. Knowing this, I knew that in order to really change, I needed to change my thinking. I had to change what was going into my mind. I had to start telling myself, I’m a runner. Yes, literally, I started calling myself a runner and so did my husband! It wasn’t until I started changing my thinking that I was able to take a step in believing I am what I dream. Dreaming has a purpose. It is a window into a Life You Love and The Best You. The bottom line has been that the only thing stopping me from succeeding as a runner was myself.
In order to change, you need to do something that you’ve never done.
It was a few days ago when I started to really put some plans into place about how I was going to do this “run” thing. That very same day, one of my mentors, Mark Timm, shared a quote with me, “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” Wow! Isn’t it awesome how things like that just hit you at the right time? So I started to plan what that something I’ve never done could be. For me, it was actually signing up for a 5K and I did just that.I’ve started training for my 5K and I can say that it hasn’t been easy—but it definitely has been more enjoyable so far. In fact the very first 30 minute run I did was my best run ever—it felt awesome. The difference this time from times before is that I deliberately put pressure on myself. My race is scheduled for Thanksgiving Day—that’s 8 weeks! 8 Weeks is a good amount of time to train and I am going to succeed. If I can do it—you can do it!
So what is that you’ve always wanted to do? Is it running? Throwing pottery? Whatever it is, try the Be, Plan, Do method—drop me a note letting me know what you’re doing so I can send you encouragement too! I’d love to hear about it. You got this!
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