No Holding Back
March 8, 2024 | Supreeya S
It is time. It is time to unleash your energy, your abilities, your thoughts, and your ideas.
But it’s also time to be honest with yourself. Look at yourself objectively. Where are you at? How are your skills? How polished are your thoughts? What’s your mindset like? You have to be honest to begin the work. To grow. To transform.
Most of all, you’ll see yourself clearer through your actions. Your actions reflect your skills, your abilities, your flaws, your thoughts. Not taking action deprives you of self-awareness and most of all, growth.
Living in your head helps you feel more in control, but it does not mean you’re living. To live, you have to get out of your head and take action.
You're in your head.
If you’re thinking or dreaming or planning, you’re in your head. You’re not taking action. When you don’t take action, there are no results. Or consequences. When you don’t have any results or consequences, then you have nothing to be afraid of.
So if you’re not taking action, what are you avoiding? What fear is running your life?
Perfectionism is the fear of failure. Perfectionism is the fear of mediocrity. If you don’t take action, you’ll never know how good you are. In your head, it’s a perfect dream so you decide to leave it as a dream.
Listen to your fear.
If something is in our head, it’s there for a reason. Take advantage of it. Look at fear as an overprotective friend that values us so much that it doesn’t want to risk you getting hurt.
We can listen to our fears, but don’t let your fear limit or hold you back. Low confidence is another fear of failure. You doubt your abilities to succeed. You avoid taking action so you never have to face any embarrassment or any mistakes that reflect your belief of your inadequacy.
We know that the things that matter most to us also cause us the most fear of failure.
It’s a facade. Failure isn’t hurting us. We’re hurting ourselves by not trying. We’re saying to ourselves that we accept this failure. You tell yourself it’s okay to give up on this dream from the start. Why have you accepted defeat before fighting the battle?
Isn’t it disappointing that you don’t trust yourself enough to take a shot at what matters most to you?
How to not hold back.
The only way to grow is through action. Your life will change once you start action. Do you know why?
Because each step, each action, each try is a shot you take. And you don’t have a chance of a hit unless you take a shot.
People often say your behaviors start from your thoughts and beliefs. So to see change you have to work on your thoughts. While that may be true, if you don’t take ANY ACTION at all. That isn’t true. Beneath that theory, lies the assumption that you have a bias for action.
It will feel uncomfortable. It will feel uneasy and unnatural to get out of your head and take action. Learn from results. Learn from feedback. Learn from consequences. Act and learn.
There’s always something you can do. You are in control. If you want to change the outcome, get to it.
Mel Robbins has a quick “5 Second Rule” to help you get out of your head. Any time you have an instinct to act or decide on something, you must count down from 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move your body. If you don’t move your body, your brain will stop you from acting.
You can use the “5 Second Rule” with any decision or action where you find yourself hesitating. It only takes 5 seconds for your brain to talk you out of doing something.
You can start the process of going all in with 5 second decisions. Life boils down to 5 second decisions.
What now?
Start with your wake up routine. Mel Robbins suggests doing it with your alarm. When the alarm rings, count backwards then move. 5-4-3-2-1. Take control. It’s time.