Yesterday, on the phone with a best-selling author I realized I’ve been playing small.
I have six-figure private clients. I’m writing prolifically. Creating a library of audio content. My first book is done, and I just signed a deal for the second.
I’ve made enormous progress and I have incredible momentum, yet relative to my mission I’ve still been playing small.
Some years ago when I was getting started at this, when I was far less skilled at doing hard things, I would have found that realization disheartening.
But today it is only invigorating. At every point in time I’ve done the best I can, and it’s proof I’m ready for my next leap.
My friend and business partner, Adam Checchi, often says. “To get good at things you must be willing to be bad.”
To learn anything new you must begin from the, well, beginning. And you must be willing to persist long enough at being bad to get good.
There is no other path, if you are dedicated to doing hard things.
In his book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, leading founder and venture capitalist, Ben Horowitz writes, “That’s the hard thing about hard things—there is no formula for dealing with them.”
The hardest thing about blazing your own trail isn’t persisting at putting one foot in front of the other. Like a novice climber, it is having no idea where to place your foot.
You must set aside your false sense of self, admit you lack answers, and seek out experts who can guide you. But that will only ever get you a fraction of the way.
No one can tell you what to do, and certainly no one is going to do it for you. Instead, you must be willing to keep taking actions, and doing hard things.
To some people this is the definition of hell, and unlike Churchill they are unwilling to keep going, but when you build yourself into a person who thrives on doing hard things, you can’t live any other way.
Playing small is better than not playing at all, yet to play big you must call yourself out on playing small and kick up the bar over and over again.