“If you don’t think you can, you MUST.”
The first time someone said that to me, I thought to my head, “ooooooh so I don’t think I can fly off the roof of a building so I must? Dumb.” But I’ve been around enough coaching now that a lot of the platitudes shared don’t make perfect sense on their face.
The speaker went on to explain how he had used the power of fear to guide him to being the youngest ever Marketing Director of American Apparel and to write several best selling books. Ryan Holiday, was speaking on his book “The Obstacle Is The Way,” which I highly recommend you read.
To spoil it for you, since maybe 3 of you will actually go and read a book (all 3 of whom will be in the top 1% of production in the coaching), the message is on the power of adopting Stoicism as a mindset. Simply put, Stoicism is focusing on the things which are within your control, releasing the things that are not, and looking at your challenges as an opportunity for growth. Titans of industry from John D. Rockefeller to Steve Jobs have applied these principles to greater results than what Holiday argues they would have naturally.
If you are feeling in a rut, have been searching for a magic pill to fix your situation, or are frustrated that you haven’t reached where you think you should be – take out a sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle vertically, and label the two sides “Things I CAN control” and “Things I CAN’T control.” Fill that out and really take a good look. Those things in the CAN’T column are your answers.
