(The podcast episode for this post can be found here: https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-ahetj-1449d3d)

Do you challenge yourself?

When is the last time you challenged yourself?

Would you like to challenge yourself more but aren’t sure how to go about it?

Well, I thought I’d pick this topic first for my podcast because even getting that off the ground was a huge challenge! I bought the mic ages ago – months.

But, with one computer and three people wanting on it, it’s been a real challenge getting time to get on and record, then edit, then find out how to put it online! I’m not the most technically minded person so you can imagine how well it went!!

I thought it would be good to look first of all at why challenges are good for us, so here are the main points I discovered:

Confidence

That feeling of accomplishment you get when you achieve a goal you’ve been aiming for, especially if you’ve been aiming for it for quite a while! When you achieve one thing that you thought was too difficult for you it can lead to even more success. The thought, “Well, I managed that after all, I wonder what else I can do?”

You gain a belief in your abilities and the challenges you take on can get bigger as you make more progress – which you wll!

Personal Growth

With each new challenge, your skills will grow, your knowledge will grow and your experience will grow – whats not to like?!

Even if you don’t fully succeed in achieving your goal 100%, what you’ll have learned from attemping the challenge will be worth more than not trying it at all.

Resilience

This life skill cannot be underestimated!

When you take on new challenges, your ability to deal with difficulties/obstacles improves. There are going to be problems and you will learn how to overcome them. Each time we are faced with a problem we are faced with two options: Do I throw in the towel or do I keep going? When things get difficult, its the keeping going that makes us stronger. Also a good way to teach our children! When they don’t see us giving up at the first hurdle, they learn an important life lesson.

So – if challenges are this good for us, why don’t we jump at every one?

Here are a few reasons I found out:

Fear of failure

This is huge and I think it’s probably the main one that held me back from starting the podcast. Now, if I’m honest, I don’t expect anyone to listen to it! Going by my Youtube channel growth, I think that’s realistic but it still held me back.

If you see a family on an outing, trying something new, its the kids who usually go for it while the adults hang back, look around nervously to see who is watching them.

We are afraid to fail and that in turn makes us afraid to try.

At some point we have to say ‘to hell with it’ and just go for it.

The Comfort Zone

We all have our own and stepping out of it feels unsettling and uncomfortable. Sticking with the familiar, with what we know is easier and for some, stepping out of that just feels too much.

Lack of Self Confidence

If you don’t have confidence in your abilities within your comfort zone you are not likely to push the boundaries and try new things. Comparisons on socail media do not help this – something we know but don’t always do something about.

Time

Doing something new just takes more time than doing something we are familiar with. Not everyone has the time or wants to make the time. A lot of this comes down to priorities – if you want something bad enough, you will make the time. Don’t let this one be used as an excuse to stop you from doing something!

Taking risks

Doing something new is risky and some people just don’t like taking risks. For some, maintaining the normal is just fine with them. Again, be careful this doesn’t get used as an excuse to not try, you really have to be honest with yourself about why you are not taking on the challenge in front of you.

Lets talk strategies now.

What can we do to help us take on challenges and be successful? I have a few suggestions which I hope you will find useful:

Start Small

Set small goals to start with that only slightly take you out of your comfort zone. If you have a big goal then break it down into lots of smaller steps. As a fanatic list writer, this is something I tend to do and only recently realised I was actually setting goals! To me, it was just a ‘to do’ list but I would always start with the smaller, easier jobs and lead up to the main one.

By gradually exposing yourself to new challenges and seeing yourself succeed with the smaller goals, you’ll build your confidence and belief that you are capable of taking on the bigger challenges – but start with baby steps!

Change the way you see a challenge

Instead of seeing it as impossible or just an opportunity for failure, tell yourself it’s an opportunity to learn or try something new. Not everyone gets that chance so remind yourself how lucky you are that you get to take on this challenge. Think of it as a way to gain new skills or maybe even just to have a bit of fun!

See Challenges as a Process of Learning

Related to the above point but seeing challenges as a process and not a pass and fail can be helpful. Remembering that mistakes, which we all make, are not a true reflection on us as individuals but a chance for learning and growing.

Mistakes make us better!!

Visualising Your Success!

This is a big one. Try to ‘see’ yourself successfully completing the challenge. Make a mental picture of success, make it big and clear and keep doing it! If you listen to successful people, athletes, business people etc, many of them talk about this. They ‘saw’ themselves being successful. If it works for them, it can work for you!

Support

Is there anyone close to you who can encourage you or you can share your worries with?

Is there online support you can turn to?

Whatever support you have, do yourself one favour and don’t listen to the doomers! Those people who will try and tell you its too much, too difficult, blah, blah, blah. When really what they are saying is they are too scared themselves to try what you are doing and might be jealous of your confidence to give something new a try!

Whatevery strategy or strategies you use its important to remember: This is a continual process.

There is no pass or fail.

Celebrate every win – no matter how small.

Learn from every mistake.

And keep going!