Have You Lost The Trait Toddlers Have That Leads To Greatness? Listen And Get It Back!

 

When you attempt new things, you will fail. You will have setbacks. But does that mean you should quit? Or that you should never try the new thing in the first place? As you might imagine, April has a LOT to say on this topic. In today’s episode of the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast, she challenges us to be willing to try new things and to humbly accept the inevitable setbacks and failures we’ll experience. She also shares with us an inspiring example of courage, determination, and humility we should follow as we pursue our new goals. Sound interesting? Listen to today’s episode of the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast!

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Have You Lost The Trait Toddlers Have That Leads To Greatness? Listen And Get It Back!

I read an amazing quote that said, “Your willingness to be humbled determines how great you’ll become.” It was attributed to a Navy SEAL. They were talking about all of the really tough things that they go through in training, how often they fail, and how often that is so humbling. I thought about how that applies to all of us and how it applies to mindset. Everything that we do in life has the possibility of leading to big time failure. The older that we get, the more afraid most of us tend to be of failing. I mean that at the most basic level.

You think of a toddler or a baby that hasn’t even walked yet. You think about the fact that they are willing to do something that they have never even attempted anything like. By the way, they can toddle over and bump their head or hurt themselves, yet no matter how many times they fall, you never see a baby say, “Forget it. I’m not walking. This is not for me.” You also don’t see them not doing it in the first place because they’re so afraid they won’t be good at it.

 

I love the tenacity that they show, the fun, and the joy. I often think back to that when I am contemplating trying something new and I’m afraid that I’m going to fail. I often think about, “Are we brave enough to suck at something new?” You know what I mean. You haven’t ever done something before and you have no idea how to do it. You’re not terribly coordinated, but you’re going to try a new sport, or you’re not good with picking things up and memorizing things, but you’re going to try and learn a new language. Whatever it is that isn’t just automatically in your wheelhouse, do you have the guts and the grit to try that new thing and to risk being humbled?

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What’s interesting is the more times we’re willing to do things like that, the more times we are willing to take a risk where we could fail and fail big, and the more often we do it, that’s more often that we push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. We’re looking at these as opportunities to learn and grow. That is a fantastic way to move yourself from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

For those of you who maybe didn’t read the episode where I talked about that, a fixed mindset is all about covering your bases, making sure you don’t look bad, and making sure you don’t look stupid or dumb. Whereas, a growth mindset sees the benefit in evolving, learning, and trying. If you can’t do it now, maybe you’ll be able to do it soon. You just can’t do it yet.

 

I think about the movie American Underdog with Kurt Warner and how remarkable that story was because he was humbled over and over again as he was trying to become an NFL football player. The odds are stacked against someone who wants that as a career. On average, there are 1.1 million high school players of football. That is going to be whittled down to only 825 or so that will make it to the NFL. When you think about that, does that mean that the other 1,099,175 shouldn’t try? Think about what our world surely from a football perspective would be like if there weren’t individuals who were willing to pursue that greatness at the risk of failing and at the risk of being humbled.

 

There are so many other areas of our lives as well. Think about people who want to be an entrepreneur. 1 in 5 businesses fails in year one. Of those, that makes it more fail by year 3, 5, 7, or at some other inflection point. Our entire United States is built on small businesses and people willing to take that risk. Let’s talk about the Olympics. About 1 in 500,000 people make it to the Olympics. What would those games be like if there weren’t people who were willing to fail, who were willing to not make it?

Let’s be honest. If you didn’t make it to the Olympics, you didn’t make it to the NFL, or you didn’t have the most successful business in the world, imagine the life experience and the learning that you would do and all of the amazing things that would happen because you were willing to be humbled by the experience of failure. I love that quote. I love the idea of pursuing greatness without regard to the fact that you may not get what you want. I would encourage you to give some thought to being the person who is willing to do that. Whatever your greatness is, whatever that means you’re going after, whatever failure that means you risk, I believe in you and I’m rooting for you. Here’s to your success.