A Lesson From Babies

Have you ever witnessed the miracle of watching a child learn to walk?  They start out completely weak and helpless- they can’t hold their head up, can’t feed themselves at all and depend on parents for every need. Then within a year or so they are off the ground and walking. Amazing!!

Here’s the thing about babies that I find remarkable. They can fall down a thousand times, get banged and bruised but know they are meant for greater things than crawling. So they keep trying until they walk. Imagine a baby thinking, “Nah, I don’t feel like walking. It’s too hard. I’ll stick to crawling.” The idea is ridiculous!

What if we treated our goals like babies treat walking? The focus would not be on how hard it is, or how long it might take. It would just be a given that one way or another, the job will get done and you will walk. We tend to get so caught up in what we make things mean if they don’t work exactly how we think they should. When we can go into something expecting to make mistakes and to sometimes miss the mark, “failing” feels a whole lot less painful.

If there is something you really really want, as much as a baby wants to walk, go all in on yourself. Falling and getting bruised means nothing unless you give it meaning. They are simply bumps on the path to success. If you don’t give up, you WILL learn to walk (or whatever is is you so desire!!). Figure out what you want most, make a game plan of how you will accomplish it, and start practicing. You’ll get there!