If you’re anything like I was, you’re the type of person who tends to analyze everything and every situation you come across before making a decision. You want everything you do to come out perfect because you’re a perfectionist and you know that what you do is a reflection of yourself. In your mind, you can’t let others see you as anything less than perfect. So you spend a lot of your time thinking and contemplating every scenario and I’m here to tell you the harsh truth. That is a flawed mindset. It keeps you stagnant and what is life if there is no progress? If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.
While we should always strive to do our best, we cannot expect ourselves or our situations to be perfect. That’s just an impossibility. We can’t wish things were easier, because the fact of the matter is, lowering the bar does not make us better or improve our situations.
Scenario 1
Imagine you want to be a world champion at the 100 meter dash. You are determined. This is what you want more than anything else in your life at this time, but you have no idea how fast you are. You think about going out to the local track and field with a friend of yours and a stop watch to run some trials and see where you stand. Then your self analysis of the situation kicks in.
You say to yourself, “I haven’t done much running training before, what if I’m not fast enough?”
“…and my shoes are kind of old and worn, they’ll probably slow me down.”
“I’ll have to get new shoes before I go to the track”
Then you realize that you don’t have money in your budget at the moment to buy new shoes. So you’ll have to save up first and get the shoes before you even make it out to the track.
Scenario 2
Imagine again the same situation that you want to be a world champion at the 100 meter dash. You want it more than anything else in the world. Imagine yourself crossing the finish line in front of your competitors and having the Gold Medal placed around your neck while the fans cheer and chant your name. This is what you want and you are determined to get it.
You realize your shoes are a bit worn, but you tell yourself, “They’re just shoes, I don’t need shoes to win. If I’m going to win, I need to run.”
You’re going to run, with or without the shoes, because you realize that if you don’t start running now, you may never win. You decide to go to the track right away and run some trials to see where you stand.
Key Differences between Scenario 1 and Scenario 2:
Scenario 1:
You spend your time and energy thinking about how to make the situation perfect before you ever start.
Scenario 2:
You understand that no situation will be perfect, but you can still get out there and decide to start improving your time, by running today.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that our chances of getting the Gold Medal, in any situation life throws our way, will improve tremendously if we stop analyzing so much and decide to act.
Read, Learn, Listen! 