Inspired Ideas: Giving Up on Giving Up

Sometimes I spend too much time thinking about why something won’t work, and I start thinking about safer ideas that might prevent me from completely failing. True story: I’m a bit of a perfectionist. Further, sometimes I find myself wishing that I had just arrived at my destination already (and knew at that point that I had made the right decisions), or I spend too much time comparing myself to other slightly more established individuals. One night last week, I said the following to myself and it’s been making a huge impact on my thinking:

Truly, what if giving up wasn’t an option? How would that change how you spend your time and how you think about your situation? In my case, it was exactly the thought change that I needed. I felt reinvigorated to work even harder because suddenly I started to believe that I would succeed. I also felt much more grateful for all that I do have because I truly have so much to be thankful for. When your path takes you down a longer road, sometimes “success” feels slightly elusive and frustration can take over.

One of my biggest takeaways from the Making Things Happen conference was to keep putting one foot in front of the other. That seems so easy, but I have crazy big dreams and looking at the big picture of what I might (or might not) accomplish becomes very overwhelming very quickly. I mean, what if this plan doesn’t work? That question can paralyze me, so I’ve been focusing much more on sending a single email, creating an inspiration board, or taking a moment to be still. And slowly but surely, I’ve been making progress.

Simply put: I’m giving up on giving up. Let’s see where this takes me. Where will giving up on giving up take you?