5 Words That Can Set You Free

Imagine for a moment, what kind of infographics would you be coming across when you think of “Chasing your Dreams”?

Most likely, you will see something like someone at the mountain top looking triumphantly at the sunrise…

Or maybe a really beautiful graphic of clouds in the sky forming the words “dream”, or maybe something even like…

This!

Yup, I love this picture! I have it on my vision board to remind me of my dreams and future of freedom.

However, the painful truth is that the journey often look more like…

This…

Chasing your dreams is a really sexy idea, but it requires overcoming many obstacles to get there.  Just like Sisyphus pushing a big rock up a cliff. especially if that big rock happens to be named “self doubt”.

For me, I often feel this self-doubt, like “Am I good enough?”

Very often, no sooner have I declared excitedly my big, audacious dreams and goals, when I turn around and feel a chill of self-doubt. As a trainer and speaker, I have good and bad days.  There are days where I completely bombed!  I feel really lousy, and my noisy neighbor called self-doubt comes knocking on my door and say “Hey!  You’re still there!  You’re maybe not good enough!”

For many talks, I reflect, I contemplate, I prepare, I rehearse at 10 out of 10.  However, when I go up to speak, I somehow don’t feel like I gave 10 out of 10.  On some days, I feel like I have only given a 3 out of 10.  Self-doubt knocks loudly, and his best friend self-critic shows up with baseball bats and beat the sh** out of my self-esteem.  I feel lousy.

There are also days when I am at peak form, then self-doubt sit down with me for coffee and asks “Would you be able to be as good next time?  What if your best is already behind you?”

Now, you understand why I feel the idea of chasing my dreams to take on Sisyphus-ian (is there even such a word, but let’s pretend it does exist) proportions!

At moment like this, I have to remind myself of the 5 words that can set me free.

Are you ready for it?

Ok, here are the 5 words:

 I 

Am

 Working

 On

 It

Knowing that I am a work in progress, and that at any given time, I am working on reaching my goals, will take the heat of me.

It’s me giving myself permission to fail…

It’s me giving myself leeway to take rejection not as a reflection of me and my incompetence but as being about people’s perceptions.

It’s me giving myself permission to experiment, to try new things, to innovate.  Otherwise, how can I grow?

It’s me recognizing that I am not perfect, and I cannot be!  I can only be working on it.

Reminding myself of this also keeps me humble, grounded, and knowing that I am not entitled to respect, admiration, acceptance.

It also tells the world “Hey, here I am trying and being willing to fail because I am working on it!”  In fact, it’s inspiring, and it’s inviting people to embrace their own journeys.

Do I have dreams?

Yes!

Do I have self-doubt?

Of course!  Didn’t you hear that noisy neighbor growl?

But hey, like all dreams, even if it’s like Sisyphus pushing a rock up the hill and have it roll down again, if it’s worth pursuing, then…

I Am Working On It!