Last week I said something that got me thinking…

I told a friend (when I was preparing for last week’s free Mindset Chat): “I hope people show up and like it.”

Then so many of you showed up, and it was such an amazing hour talking to you about one of my favorite topics…

But the thing is that everyone faces that kind of impostor syndrome once in a while. That doubt can creep in. We start to ask ourselves, are we good enough to do something? Or are we ready?

That voice has no prejudice. It comes for everyone. Whether or not you’ve already proven yourself. Whether or not you’ve already been successful at something or not.

It’s just a matter of not letting that voice get inside your mind. It’s overcoming that voice and doing something anyway. 

I’ve seriously heard that voice a thousand times.

That voice usually appears before I’m about to do something really important. Something really big.

“Are you sure you can do this?”
“Are you sure you can pull it off?”
“Are you sure you’ve got it in you?” 

“Are you prepared enough?”

As reluctant as that voice has tried to make me on different occasions… As much as it tries to keep me pulling the trigger on some really exciting things… I always gather together every ounce of my confidence and answer back one word: YES.

And by the time that voice creeps in, I know I’ve already come so far. It’s time to just go for it.

Even though I’m nervous, I just have to dive in. I have to dig into that inner confidence. I remind myself that to grow, you have to keep pushing yourself. And sometimes that means doing something you’ve never done before.

You always have a choice.  And choosing not to do something is also a choice. And that’s the choice that’s going to lead you to where you’ve always been.

When I created the EYT, I had NO idea how to run tournaments. I just knew how to bowl them. It required a lot of work and learning. Was that uncomfortable? Yes, of course. But I pushed through the discomfort.

Champions aren’t afraid to get a little uncomfortable. If you want to accomplish something you’ve never done, you have to do the things you’ve never done and feel the things you’ve never felt. To get where you want to go, you have to get out of your comfort zone – get vulnerable.

Setting up the Elite Youth Tour, my overall goal was to create a space for youth bowlers to shine and become leaders. However, I also had another specific goal. I wanted to have national youth champions and Junior Gold champions on my tour.  I knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. I had to stay consistent and put in the work holding tournaments, maintaining a great supporting team and creating scholarship opportunities. Now, after years of that level of consistency, EYT does have the national champions and Junior Gold champions. None of that would have happened if I gave into the nerves.

And I can’t even imagine not having EYT now.

Setting up EYT was me making a choice. Just as it’s always about making a choice and saying YES to ourselves, even when that doubtful voice tries to interfere and stop us.

I choose to make the scary choices that keep me moving forward.

So last week I put on a Mindset Chat and launched a brand new mental game membership that I’ve been pouring my heart into over the past few months… And that voice re-appeared. It asked me, “are you sure?”

And I told it, “YES! I’m nervous, but as sure about it as I was about the Elite Youth Tour all those years ago.” And, well, that turned out pretty dang well in the end, right?

I’ve just learned that in life, I have to jump in and start living intentionally toward any goal I set. In order to achieve it, I know I have to be completely and wholeheartedly invested in it. Nerves and all.

There’s nothing wrong with you feeling nerves. It is a normal part of the experience.

It’s not a negative emotion and something to hide. It’s not about pushing it away. It’s all about managing feelings like that when they come up. Embrace the feelings, acknowledge them and then mindfully manage them.

I’m big on normalizing being nervous. The truth is that anyone who says that they’re never nervous is not being honest.  Because every person feels nervous at some point. They are perhaps too proud to admit it.

I’m one for honesty, though, and why mislead others into thinking you’re immune to all of this? No one is. Hiding your fears and nervousness gives the wrong impression.

When we power through situations, it’s not a lack of emotions or fearlessness. It’s grit. 

So I’m not afraid to admit that I was a bit nervous last week.

When we’re experiencing something new or challenging, our emotions can take over. It is totally okay to feel all the feelings when we are doing anything in our lives that matters to us.

The important thing is to keep saying yes to the things that move you forward. And don’t let that voice or the feelings paralyze you.

If you want to hear more of what I had to say when I showed up for that Mindset Chat last week, you can watch the replay here.

Mindset Reset by Diandra