Life

My kiddos have gymnastics once a week. When they first started at this gym I watched every second of each hour-and-20 minute practice. I wanted to make sure they were enjoying themselves.

After a few sessions of this I knew they were in good hands. Things at this gym run like clockwork. The coaches are with the kids at all times, spotting them and demonstrating the correct ways to do things.

They usually do a circuit of activities: starting on the floor with a warmup and then moving to bars, beams and trampoline. Skill, after skill, after skill. Every week they reinforce skills and introduce new ones.

So, I’m now comfortable bringing a book to read, or writing blog posts and glancing up periodically to see what they are up to.

This week they interrupted my blog post writing and took me down to the floor to watch their floor routine and balance beam work. Then, all the kids in their class who had mastered the skills on their checklist got a medal.

Suddenly, I have two bronze-advanced level gymnasts on my hands.

I was blown away by all the skills my girls have learned. It felt like it did when they learned to walk. Suddenly they were just walking and there was no stopping them.

I had no idea they had marked so many skills off their checklists because we hadn’t been focusing on the marking off of skills. We’d been focused on making sure they were enjoying themselves and having fun. And I’d been spending most of the class ignoring them.

Between classes, with the exception of a few flips on the trampoline and an occasional cartwheel, they don’t even think or talk about gymnastics. They are too busy planning sleep schedules for their Zhou Zhou Pets and watching reruns of SpongeBob.

My kids constantly remind me to focus on having fun doing what I’m doing. To be in the moment.

When you’re enjoying yourself you don’t notice how hard you’re working, whether it’s learning a new gymnastics skill or working on your business Facebook page.

When you get in the flow, keep plugging away skill, after skill, after skill you can’t see how far you’ve come until you step back amazed.

Today I signed up for a writing conference. Big deal, right? People go to conferences everyday. But, I’ve been thinking about it for weeks and wondering if I should go. If I deserve to go. What will I tell someone if they ask me what I write?

Should I tell them that I feel ashamed about all that I haven’t written? Should I say I feel stupid because I don’t know where to start? Should I say I’m just a beginner and down play the little bits of writing I have done?

All those questions playing over and over in my mind are so different from the words I use with my daughters.

When they are learning anything new, riding a bike, swimming, reading, I encourage them to TRY and to be proud of their efforts. Because I know that in TRYING they DO and the more they DO the better they will be.

So, why is my internal dialogue so screwed up?

In my heart I know I need to be proud of where I am and excited about what I’m working toward, regardless of that little voice that’s telling me I’m not quite worthy.

If I never sign up for conferences or try anything new I’m going to be stuck right where I am. Right?

I want for you the same things I want for my daughters and myself. I want you to be proud of your efforts to build a businesses. I want you to TRY and DO and SEE where it takes you.

Too often we get in our own way. We stop ourselves. We limit ourselves. We don’t let ourselves try.