Acknowledge Your Effort for Showing Up

“Acknowledge your effort for showing up.” That is what a Bikram teacher used to say to us at the end of every class.   To this day, I still repeat this phrase to myself during class.   It reminds me to appreciate myself for simply making the class, regardless of how inflexible I was, or how imperfectly I was able to do the postures during that particular class.

It’s a simple concept, but we often forget it, especially if we are overachievers. We tend to judge our achievements by results and results alone, and not appreciate the efforts we took along the way sometimes. In a way, it’s counter-productive, as 95% of the achievement process is the journey to the goal, and achieving the goal is only 5% of the process. Yet for man of us, we are down on ourselves for the first 95%, since we still haven’t achieved the results, and only feel satisfied with the last 5%. 

Wouldn’t it be great to feel good about ourselves all of the time? Well, this sentence reminds me to do that. It takes effort to do anything new or difficult in a job search, on the job, or in life. It’s important to acknowledge yourself when you take that first step also and the second step, and not just that last step. We may not always succeed after the first step, or the eighth step. The fact you took 1 step or 8 steps in a new or difficult direction takes effort, guts, and openness to learning new things. That is to be appreciated in itself.

You can do the same.  Half of the battle in trying anything new or challenging is taking the first action.  So I urge you to take the first action, and to recognize that it’s such an accomplishment when you do so.  For example:

• Pick up the phone and cold call that contact for an info interview about his company
• Schedule the meeting with your boss to discuss your career goals and what you want to learn
• Volunteer to give the presentation to the senior executive
• Have a heart to heart talk with someone you had difficulties working with.

These are just some examples of challenging things that you may talk yourself out of doing — don’t talk yourself out of it! By “showing up” and appreciating your strength for doing so, you and I can make amazing things happen one step at a time in our work, our lives, and perhaps even the world!

Your comments: What mental concepts do you use to overcome your fears of trying new things?  Add your comments and questions below.  Let’s have a discussion!

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I am always in your corner

– Lei