Everything you want to create is already inside of you

When confronted with a new task or project or challenge, our default response to find a way to make it a story about how we’ve never done this before.

How we’re not qualified or experienced or smart enough to execute.

But that’s a copout. An excuse not to face something big and scary and different.

We’re always more prepared than we think we are. Everything we want to create is already inside of us. It’s simply a matter of permission and trust. Using our history to find something that can support us in the present.

Here are three questions that I find helpful to ask.

What do I already know that will help me solve this problem?
When have I experienced a similar issue in another area of my life?
What is it that I know how to do that needs doing here?

These tools allow us to step back from the task at hand, assess our inner resources and consider how they might be deployed. And every time we ask them, trust in ourselves grows a little bit more, and aversion to risk grows a little bit less.

Next time you’re faced with a problem that appears to be on the bleeding edge of your competence, ask yourself a few of these questions. Give yourself a pep talk down off this ledge of insanity. And discover that the story you’re telling yourself about your competence is completely invented.

Remember, everything we’ve been through is more grist for the mill, more input to scan and more data to bounce of a richer matrix.

It’s not about getting better, it’s about growing less afraid.

Which challenges would feel less threatening if you trusted that everything you wanted to create was already inside of you?