Archive for category: Train Mean

Experiencing a rough patch? Debating whether you should give up?

Are you filing things away into your “I suck” file (as my sister would say)? Ask yourself if you’ve really put forth 100% effort, consistently.

I feel lucky to have experienced an important life lesson when I was 14; that you really CAN achieve anything you set your mind to.

We don’t have any “skinny” in our genetics but growing up, my parents exposed us to everything and anything active – we were SO blessed to have parents that would give their right arm to make sure we could experience it all and experience the FAILURES that lead to success.

When we’d try something new like riding a motorcycle across up a steep narrow path or slalom skiing, we’d complain & whine that it was hard/IMPOSSIBLE and dad would always very calmly say………
“You’re fine.. try again”

So when I was 14 years old, someone said I should pursue dance with the city ballet company and audition when I was old enough – in 2 years; at age 16. At the time, I was involved in sports and only danced ballet in a small studio once or twice a week.

 

I was SHOCKED to hear someone suggest I take Ballet seriously at age 14- I knew others got serious at age 9 or 10. But when mom took me to the local city ballet company to audition for their “school” where the professional-hopefuls trained, they watched me dance and had a VERY different opinion and said I was NO WHERE NEAR ready to audition for the professional company in 2 yrs. They said I’d be placed with girls much younger than me and it would take at least 5 yrs before I’d be ready to audition for the Ballet company. They said no one has ever progressed from my existing level to professional in 2yrs – I was welcome to enroll as a student with the 10yr olds, but NOT to expect to dance with the ballet company. And they also said I was “too thick”.

I remembered my dad saying “don’t let anyone tell you you’re not capable of something”. And “no one thinks it’s possible until someone does it” .. This was the time to put those words to the test.

I decided to give up basketball and softball (and my social life) and go for it.

So it’s a long story and this is already too long :D, but basically I worked my a$$ off in that class with the 10yr olds (where I was already 5’5″ and looking like a grown woman towering over skinny little 4th graders), and stayed AFTER every class, every night, to dance for HOURS in a side studio that wasn’t being used; practicing over and over and over again… by myself. Mom would pick me up LATE at night – I was exhausted with bloody feet -and I usually didn’t have ANY of my homework done for the next day of school.

There were many times it looked like all my efforts were NOT paying off; I still had a LONG way to go and there were many unexpected roadblocks.

 

For example, that summer mom & dad said we were going to spend the summer at the lake instead. I knew all the other girls ALWAYS progressed leaps and bounds in the summer since summer classes required 4-5 hrs a day of dancing. So instead of giving up or resorting to the fact that i’d just fall further behind, I went to the local fire hall at the lake and cleared all the tables and stacked the chairs all by myself and practiced for HOURS in a hot humid room, everyday. I remember looking in the bathroom mirror there one day – drenched in sweat and blood seeping thru my toe shoes -and I remember thinking “this is EXHAUSTING & CRAZY… but what I’m learning and becoming from this is something bigger than the goal itself” …

Two years after that day I started pursing it, I auditioned for the ballet company. There were about 100 auditioning and only 3 newbies were needed. AND.. I was one of them.. I MADE IT! I had relatively no skill.. just discipline and consistency. I had done what others wouldn’t do.

My point with all of this is that you can’t expect to achieve great things unless you are willing to fight for it. You can’t wait for the right conditions, the right time, the right body and skills, and the right people to motivate and support you.
YOU have to be your #1 cheerleader and advocate!
YOU have to LEARN & APPLY the skills!

Success is 90% due to consistency and hard work – not talent, genetics, privileges, etc.

You can’t give up just because things get tough, no one understands, you are made fun of, you fail and embarrass yourself, your situation is tougher, you think you’re not as good as the others – you have to rise above all of it with an unstoppable belief in where you’re going.

You know that adrenaline of energy and strength you get when something or someone you love is at risk?? Find that adrenaline for the life project/goal/life you’re pursuing.

Maybe you expected it would be easier. Maybe you think others are experiencing success because it’s easier for them. That kind of thinking can sabotage your potential because the truth is, you have to work HARD and fight for it. Once you own that, you’ll soar!