Day 7: Dare To Be Bold

Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Next to Resistance, rational thought is the artist or entrepreneurs worst enemy. Bad things happen when we employ rational thought, because rational thought comes from the ego. Instead, we want to work from the Self, that is, from instinct and intuition, from the unconscious.

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Its only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” - Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

The idea of “being realistic” holds all of us back. From starting a business or quitting a job to dating someone who may not be our type or moving to a new place – getting “real” often means putting your dreams on hold.

Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.

The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?

One thing I have been afraid to pursue is kickboxing (silly I know). I have been talking about wanting to do it for years now it feels like. I even bought a Groupon for 5 kickboxing classes and I still have yet to take them! One obstacle was finding a place to take the classes but since I bought a Groupon for a specific place that is no longer an obstacle. Another obstacle is time. I always feel like I never have enough time after work to do too much so I let that stop me from doing many things. I also let my insecurities get in the way of me doing more physical things in public, like running (ps another thing I want to do is run a marathon...or half marathon). My plan to over come the obstacles of time and insecurities is to get my name of the schedule for the classes and go! I also need to realize that no one is perfect at these dang classes and I should not be self-conscious.

As for the marathon...I started running more but I need to get a marathon training program from online and start doing it. I think running in a marathon would be quite an accomplishment for myself!


Post-it Question Revisited: It has been well over 48 hours and I have been thinking about how to become more motivated about professional career growth. I realized that when I look at the big picture (where I want to be in say 5 or 10 years) I become overwhelmed with the amount of work it will take. Instead I need to focus on smaller portions of that picture and one day they will add up!

I need to focus on one or two major goals a month and follow them through. I need to stay focused and know what it is I am working towards at that moment (something smaller and specific). Once I have accomplished a goal I need to focus on another, not allowing myself to let significant amounts of time pass (I get lazy).

I also need to make regular meetings with my mentor and career managers to make sure I am on track and that I am setting the correct smaller goals to ultimately meet the BIG ONE!


Today's sentence: I started CISSP training which is one of my smaller goals to help my career growth (promotion); I must stay focus throughout training and then study hard for the next month so that I can pass the exam!