I’m not an advocate of watching tv, but I’m not going to deny the fact that, at times, I will binge watch Netflix. So much that I’ve almost watched the every episode of the show, Parenthood, 2 times. It makes me laugh, cry and even feel inspired.
In one of the episodes, Sarah, who is launching a photography career is feeling overwhelmed with her first major project. Her neighbor stops by to talk and gives her some words of wisdom, “Sarah, you’re acting like you’re in over your head, but really you’re just a little outside your comfort zone.”
It made me think about when I’m feeling overwhelmed with big projects or seemingly endless to do lists…am I really overwhelmed? Or do I just need to get still and create some more awareness around the situation to see that I’m just outside of my comfort zone?
When we used to run camps for grades K-3 we really struggled getting most of the kids to shoot layups with their weak hand only. At best, a lot of them would shoot with both hands and then hold up their left like they were actually following through.
So what I did is make them completely remove their right hand and shoot scoop shots (underhand) without jumping or taking a step. The first 5-8 shots would fly over the backboard or ricochet right back at them from the bottom of the rim. Of course, the first things that came out of their mouth was
“This is impossible”
“I’m never going to be able to do this”
They felt like they were in completely over their head. But for 78% of them (of course I made that number up) after about 20 reps they started to make some scoop shots with their left hand only. So in only 3-4 minutes they went from “impossible” to “possible”.
Is everything this easy? Of course not, but it shows that many times we are so afraid to fail that we don’t even take the first step. It also shows that when we feel like we’re completely in over our heads we might just be a bit outside of our comfort zone. And, only until we start to take action do we find out truly where we stand.
I know that I will only reach my fullest potential in life if I continually choose the greatest challenges. This includes making sacrifices, taking risks and putting myself in uncomfortable situations. But I must see them each as an opportunity to grow to my fullest potential as a human being, not focusing on the result in and of themselves. It’s not the end goal that matters. It’s who we become in the process of the drill, project or challenge that matters the most. The most important work we do is the work we do on ourselves.