The best piece of advice I’ve ever received came from a mentor I really look up to.
This game-changing piece of advice saved my career and has saved me years worth of time and energy. It’s allowed me to generate much more $$$.
If I could attribute where I am today- to one piece of advice – THIS would be it.
It came from my first life coach 10 years ago; one of the major teachers in my life, Brooke Castillo.
I was struggling as an SLP; overworking, riddled with self doubt and overwhelmed to a point of where I experienced physical symptoms of burnout- this was fairly early in my career.
She said
In order to get good at anything, you must be willing to suck at it.
It sounds so silly- but I simply started letting myself do things badly. I should mention here- it’s not that they were actually bad, (okay sometimes it was pretty bad) they just weren’t great.
Here’s what most people do.
They are afraid of doing something wrong or not knowing how to do something, so instead of trying something and failing
They actually FAIL AHEAD OF TIME and don’t try anything at all.
In fact they are so stuck in the stress of not knowing what to do- paralyzed in overwhelm-confusion…
Even if the solution was right in front of them, they wouldn’t see it because they are stuck in what I call a thought loop.
A negative thought loop sounds something like this.
Brain: Omg, there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to start, i can’t do this, (so you write another to do list and then start the cycle again) omg, SEE there really IS too much, this is impossible, people suck, I suck, everyone thinks I’m not good, everyone agrees that this impossible, nobody understands what I do, How am I supposed to know, why can’t I just be better? I don’t have any resources or feedback, How am I supposed to know, This is too much, why does this have to be so hard…
Mental exhaustion comes from your brain and THIS. IS. EXHAUSTING.
If you want to recover and prevent burnout- instead of trying to “work” your way out of it- you must get at the cause. You must manage your thought loops.
Little by little I did things badly and gradually- I became better. And I gradually examined each of the mean thoughts that my brain wanted to think. I became better and nicer to myself (and others). I’m continually in that process.
Proof- last week, I realized the email I sent out had repeated, misplaced paragraphs. My brain wanted to go into that old thought loop of how terrible I am- BUT- I didn’t, I encouraged myself and let myself do it badly.
Question:
How can you implement doing things badly to prevent failing ahead of time?
It can be in any area, eating healthier, starting to exercise, lesson planning, de cluttering…
What does your heart want (that your brain is saying no way to)?
Seriously, I have just told you a piece of advice that has completely transformed my career and life, so I REALLY want you to implement this asap.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Sending hugs,
Angie
Angela L. Merced MA, CCC-SLP, Certified LCS Life Coach
Sometimes we can get in a place where it’s too overwhelming and we truly can’t see where to even start. If you need help -hit reply or sign up for a free consultation to see what its like to work with a life coach.
pic of my family and I doing things badly 😂
