You’re resistance is ruining you.

Ever since I was a very young person I have always resisted things that don’t come easy to me. My parents put me in piano classes and- although I was a pretty fast learner- I was totally unmotivated to keep going because I couldn’t play Mozart within the first few weeks. Fast forward to 32 years old and nothing about that mindset seems to have changed!

I’ve wanted to operate a business since I was 20 and I’ve come up with at least 10 very do-able business ideas that never got off the ground. So I had to ask myself… what the hell is wrong with me?

I know I’m not lazy, I know I’m motivated, and I know I have things to offer so what’s stopping me from being great? Big surprise… its me.

Here’s the deal: I resist things that don’t come natural to me. I feel overwhelmed and chaotic and super-unsure about myself when I don’t exactly know what I’m doing… so I just don’t do things. This mindset is literally ruining my life: if I keep thinking this way I can never own a business because owning and operating a business is something I’ve never done before.

I don’t have a ton of experience in the retail world and I’ve never been a manager. I wasn’t on sports teams besides cheerleading and I wasn’t involved in many other extracurriculars. I don’t have a background of trying new things and seeing them through or managing a lot of tasks and being successful. So the reality is I’m going to have to learn a bunch of new skills which gives me only 2 options: keep being resistant or lean in. Obviously I have to lean in and, obviously, that will be a lot easier said than done. But it is incredibly necessary to make myself incredibly uncomfortable if I want to be incredibly successful.

I mean… we weren’t put here to be comfortable anyway, right? That would be too easy. We all have great ideas and dreams and they require us to move past what’s easy. I’ve heard lots of people say they don’t know their passion or what they want to do in life but I challenge that thinking. I think everyone has at least an inkling of what they want out of life but the idea of working towards it is so daunting that we ignore those desires because they seem too grand or too crazy or too difficult.

One thing I have come to understand is that whatever feels uncomfortable and impossible is probably the thing we’re supposed to do- we just have to be ok being uncomfortable doing it.

In my case, I also lack some of the skills I need to be successful. But that’s ok. Just like the piano I quit when I was 12 years old, I need to start and keep practicing. If I don’t know what to do… just do something. The pieces will come together as soon as I keep taking steps.

I know this is a message you’ve probably heard before, its certainly one I’ve heard before. But here’s what I asked myself: if I am resisting things that make me uncomfortable… why don’t I feel more comfortable?

I’m not satisfied with where I am and pushing passed my comfort zone can’t be worse than always being disappointed with myself and wondering ‘what if?’ The only what-if question worth asking any more is ‘what if you let your life pass you by because you resisted the unknown?’

I won’t even answer that question. Will you?