Figure it out
"Why don't you have this figured out?"
I was screaming in my car as I got off the phone call. It was the 6th call that day from someone asking about a service that we don't offer, and I didn't convert them to what we can do.
"Why don't you have this figured out?"
We basically collapsed at the end of another day that felt like an eternity as we picked through a less than enthralling stack of applications for our open positions. After more than two hours of discussion, none made the cut. Again.
"Why don't you have this figured out?"
.....fill in the blank.
What are you banging your head against the wall on? What do you feel like you're running in place with? What's the problem you can't seem to crack?
Personally, we encounter them all of the time. From raising our kids and our dog's diet, to training staff and marketing our services. They are UTTERLY maddening. Either you feel like you have finally solved it, only to have it overturned in the next instance. Or, you just can't make any progress on it.
Ready for a dirty secret? Seriously...are you ready?
You aren't alone in your feelings of frustration.
(pauses for shock to settle in)
We know you see the Facebook posts. You scroll through the highly polished websites. You watch Youtube videos or listen to interviews. You see things and think, "Whoa. That person has everything figured out." How do we know? We do it too!
We see the shiny and well practiced presentation and assume that's just how that person is in every aspect of their life. We read an incredibly written blog and hang our head in shame at the fact that our high school English teacher would like them more than us.
We know where all of the skeletons are in our business. Where we cut corners that one time or how the 'marketing campaign' is more of a 'spray and pray' kind of approach. We know the places we continue to struggle with day in and day out, seemingly no matter what we do.
The self doubt doesn't just creep in. It pours in like the rainy season in Mawsynram.
We know a few things about people:
No one is perfect
Everyone will struggle
We each wish we were like someone else
Now here is where it gets important. None of those three things can ever negate the facts that:
You are important
You have inherent value
You have something to share
"Why don't you have this figured out?"
Well, you may not have it figured out. You may never figure it out. And honestly, no one ever will figure it all out. But here's what makes you different. You continue to try. You continue to make yourself better. You continue to grow and learn.
THAT is worth sharing. The lessons you've learned along the way to figuring it out.
