Repeat After Me: I Can Do This

Daily life offers a buffet of challenges and difficulties that continuously seek to knock us down.

If you have a big dream you hope to accomplish, you need to learn how to weather those challenges and become self-motivated, so nothing can hold you down.

Ten years ago, I would have never thought I’d be capable of accomplishing what I have since then. That’s because I didn’t believe I was good enough. But I didn’t admit it to myself openly. Our internal dialogue is a sneaky devil– it works right under our nose without us ever noticing.

We often tell ourselves and others what we’re going to do, our plans, goals, and dreams; but behind it all, underneath that layer of conscious thought, we just don’t believe we’re good enough.

Believe in yourself when nobody else does.

– Mary J. Blige

Repeat after me:

I can do this.

Scratch that– I want you to SHOUT it:

I can do this!

The truth is, you are good enough. You’re smart enough, creative enough, strong enough, and you are worthy.

Over the past ten years, I’ve:

• Been homeless, having slept in my car for several weeks
• Taken the bus to work each day whenever my old car broke down and I couldn’t fix it
• Lost my car (different car– lots about cars, here!)
• Lost a freelance job– without notice– that was the entire source of my income, sweeping the rug out from me and my family
• Worked for months building an online course– only to have it fail horribly with no way to recoup the time, energy, or financial investment
• Discovered the dad I had never gotten the chance to meet had actually been dead for the past ten years (long story)
• Had to scrap a project after years of work that was dear to my heart because it wasn’t going anywhere and I was digging a progressively deeper financial hole because of it

By all means, that’s a heap of failure, struggle, and challenges (and that wasn’t even close to all of it). I wouldn’t blame someone for becoming discouraged after all that, it’s hard to take. And, really, that’s nothing compared to what others have had to endure from abuse to tragedy and everything in between.

But you know what? As difficult as that all was, by that time in my life I was done.

I grew up lacking confidence and belief in myself. And, worse, I never met anyone who taught me to think otherwise. It wasn’t until I was nearly twenty-three that I started hearing from people that I was good enough to make something happen with my life and that I needed to believe in myself to make that happen.

So, I wasn’t done making an effort or going after my goals, I was done feeling like I never gave my all. I was done living perpetually disappointed with myself. The challenges were not going to hold me back any longer.

So, over those ten years, every time I got knocked down I got back up. And I stood taller because of it. As many challenges and struggles as I’ve had over the past ten years, I’ve also done some cool things too:

• I’ve written three books
• I’ve published three high-quality online courses
• I’ve written over one million words and had my work published on sites with millions and millions of visitors
• I’ve been published in the New York Times (even if it wasn’t anything special!)
• I’ve had three beautiful children that have changed my life forever
• I’ve met and gotten married to the love of my life
• I’ve found my calling
• And I’ve now been able to get to a point where I can design my own lifestyle, working from home on my own time so I can spend more time with my family

I don’t say all that to brag, in fact, I believe that most of that (aside from my family) is nothing special compared to what I– or anyone else– can do over a lifetime. I say that to prove a point:

You can do this.

Whatever this is for you, you’re good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and strong enough to make it happen. I know so many of you are like I was– unconfident and believing that you’re unworthy.

But I don’t care how many times you’ve been knocked down, how many times you’ve failed, or how unconfident you feel– you have it within you to make something incredible happen if you’d only take that first step.

It’s that first step that is always the most difficult. But the beautiful part is, you’ll find that after taking that first step you become energized. “I can do this”, you think to yourself. And the rest is history.

So, get out there and take that first step. Hell, make it a leap of faith. The critics will talk because they’re jealous and jaded from life’s challenges (they’ll always be there).

But you? You know better.

You’re good enough and you’re done living at half-throttle.