I’m starting a challenge.

And it’s a little bit scary – but that’s the point.

Each week I’m setting myself a challenge to step outside my comfort zone to see what’s possible.

Challenge number one is to video myself and post it. See 👇

I’ve been stewing about it for the last couple of days. I was initially going to put off the challenge to next week – I came up with the classic excuse: I’m too busy.

Why? Because despite a background in drama and public speaking, the thought of being filmed gives me the heebie-jeebies.

I’m a perfectionist by nature and traditionally have suffered from chronic self-doubt and low self-worth so my first thoughts when I think about filming myself is “it needs to be perfect”. Then I start worrying about whether I’m good enough to do it, which is quickly followed by worrying about what other people will think and how I’ll come across when I put it out in the world (especially if it’s not perfect).

Queue lots of anxious feelings and a bit of armpit sweat.

Don’t even get me started on what I think and feel about watching it back and hearing my voice and Kiwi accent 🤣. We are our own harshest critics. (Oh God, my nose is so big, I didn’t know my mouth does that stupid thing when I talk, and why does my voice sound like that!!)

These responses are only natural and human because we are thinking about stepping outside our comfort zone and that’s always a bit scary.

The thing is, it’s so easy for us to get caught up in our thinking, believe all of it to be true and then talk ourselves out of doing any number of things that we’d actually like to do but which are just a little bit scary to us.

Is that any way to live life and grow?

What this video shows – and what I want to show each week with each challenge I set myself – is that you’re able to do way more than you think you can, and whatever you think or believe about yourself doesn’t have to hold you back. You can do scary stuff even when you feel scared or anxious. You can do stuff even when you think you can’t. You can do stuff even if you’re worried about failing or what other people might think.

So, take filming yourself and posting it on social media as a case in point – you don’t have to feel ready or confident to do it. You can do it in spite of all the nerves and worries that are bubbling on the inside. And you will be ok – it’s highly unlikely the world will end even if it feels it might.  

It’s all about baby steps, nudging up against our comfort zone, understanding how our mind works and seeing what we are truly made of.

We want to overcome self-doubt? Live without fear? Strut with confidence and purpose? Feel good about ourselves, be the person we want to be and achieve our goals and dreams?

The answer is to see it for ourselves – that we are more than what we tell ourselves and what we believe.

So, whose up for a challenge?

#ownyourawesome

PS – I’m a self-belief coach and my mantra is we are stronger, more resilient, more capable and more awesome than we think we are. Yip, even you! Interested in what that might mean for you? Let’s chat.

PPS – Know someone who might benefit from coaching, this blog or video? Please share!