Sarah Updike“If you believe it, you can do it!” I love an inspirational quote, but sometimes I need a pragmatic kick in the form of my computer wallpaper: “You can do it if you believe? False. You can do it if you do it.” -Dwight Schrute meme
SO MANY times I’ve made passion project action lists then stared at them, paralyzed, feeling like a failure. Dwight has helped me see that when I’m stuck, it’s often because I’ve gotten hung up on an unwritten first action: ‘I must believe.’
Look, if I’m honest, I rarely feel like I believe in myself. If you asked me if I believed I could accomplish what I have, I would tell you, “Uh…no.” And yet, here I am. Not because I was aware that I believed I could do the thing, but because I took action.
Here’s the thing I’ve come to understand: If I didn’t believe, somewhere in my core, that I could do a thing then doing it wouldn’t occur to me. I have never in my life thought, “I should build a skyscraper.” I appreciate architecture and design. I admire the skills of architects and builders. I also FULLY BELIEVE that my zone of genius does not live in the land of people-safe structures. And because I sense that about myself, it never occurs to me to do anything related to that.
Conversely, everything that I have thought to do and taken action on, I have been able to do–even when I felt like I would flame-out colossally. Which means that somewhere in me, I believed that I could at least take the first action, growing momentum to take the next action.
Dwight reminds me that action illuminates the belief I can’t see. Sometimes action is doing the thing. Sometimes action is reaching out for help. Sometimes, it’s just a snack and a nap.
As always, I’m curious about you: What would you do if you remembered that you believe in yourself? What’s the smallest action you can take right now to reinforce the belief you already have?
