I’m not going to believe that only a few people are permitted to be gatekeepers or creators or generous leaders. I have no intention of apologizing for believing in people, for insisting that we all use this moment and these assets to create some art and improve the world around us.
To do anything less than that is a crime.[1]
Seth hit it out of the park with this article. There’s truly no reason why we should impose limits on ourselves simply because something is “too hard” or “totally different than what I’ve done before”. An old dog CAN learn new tricks, contrary to popular belief; they just have to work at it a bit harder.
And that’s not a bad thing. Think of things that you do on a routine basis that take no/minimal effort on your part. How fulfilling is it when you complete those? Now think about the last time you really put forth effort towards something. How rewarding was it when you completed it? I’m guessing you’re like me, in that the more difficult tasks provided more satisfaction once you were done.
So why not challenge yourself? Summer is approaching, and for a lot of us, that means time off from school. For others, that just means nice weather when you get off of work. Regardless, maybe we should all take this time and find 5 things we keep telling ourselves “I can’t”, and make that become “I did”.
So here’s what I’m going to try:
- Learning a few songs on guitar I’ve been putting off because of their difficulty.
- Start learning Chinese
- Launch my web site (for the 3rd and final time)
- Get back into a more healthy state of being. Work out, less junk food, less pop, etc.
- Achieve a 3.33 (B+) average during my final 2 semesters of college.
I realize 2 & 4 are not really tangible, nor do they have fixed end. But that’s ok. I may never master Chinese, but it won’t hurt to be able to understand and maybe even speak a little. I don’t have a fixed weight I’d like to get down to, or a certain bicep size (I’m not really that vain), but when I get to the right point, I’ll know it. A finite end isn’t required for everything, and the fact that I challenged myself is enough.
What about you? What will you challenge yourself to accomplish?
[1]: “Accepting False Limits” by Seth Godin
#1 by plantainperiodicals on April 24, 2011 - 18:08
I completely agree with what you are saying, a lot of the time people do not do things simply because they cannot be bothered to push themselves enough to try. The gatekeepers are no better than the rest of us, it’s just they dared to challenge themselves in a way most of us wouldn’t dare.