Imagine the following.
You’re out with some friends and you start talking about ideas. One thing leads to another and before you know it, primitive sketches of the “Master Plan” appear on a napkin.
Everyone’s excited. You’re thinking:
This One Could Be It.
It’s easy to get excited in the early stages of anything that has potential. When push comes to shove, however, the most important question that should get asked  but rarely does is:
If you were key leadership looking for people to help execute the “Master Plan”
Would you pick yourself?
Before you answer a resounding “But of course!” …
I encourage you to honestly and thoroughly think about it for a few minutes and consider the following questions:
- Do you always show up, no matter what?
- Are you reliable?
- Do you do whatever it takes no matter how tired-hungry-distracted-interested-in-catching-up-with-saved-episodes-of-The-Blacklist you are?
- Are you willing to burn the midnight oil?
- Can you be trusted?
- Do you work harder than anyone else you know?
- Are you on a first name basis with risk and failure?
In a world where new ideas gone huge make headlines on nightly news programs, what’s easy is getting caught up in “start-up” fever.
What’s hard is moving past the idea stage and putting into play all the moving parts necessary to see something through, even if it means insane hours and huge sacrifices and the ever-looming possibility that it will never take off.
I know. I’ve been there at the starting gates, chomping at the bit, excited about all the possibilities. But until I could honestly look myself in the eye and answer that key question, I couldn’t cross the finish line with any of them.
Once I could…
Relief.
It’s still hard, but in a good way. I’m not fighting against myself anymore.
And let me tell you — There are very few feelings as wonderful as that one.
If you’re currently struggling with moving forward in something — anything, really — take a few minutes and look at what’s going on through the lens of that key question:
Would you pick yourself?
The answer may reveal exactly what you’ve been looking for. 🙂
Great article, Mary Lou. I think all of us have experienced times when we are our own worst enemy. Where our thoughts, our frustrations and set backs seem to get the best of us. I picked you in 2012 because I saw that leader, that potential in you, and we did exactly what you’ve written…moved past the idea stage, put all the moving parts into place, made huge sacrifices, and crossed the finish line with two outstanding products. I’d pick you all over again!
Now I’m watching you go through ups and downs and persevere to see your personal dreams and passionate purpose begin to manifest in 2014. I’m excited to see what will unfold for you this year now that you’ve broken through and picked yourself.
Hi Leta,
Thanks for the kind words. We’ve been on parallel journeys to a degree and it’s been fascinating to watch you moving onward. 2014 promises to be a great year in so many ways because we each picked ourselves. 🙂