Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Learning to Ride the Bike of Business
I got an email from Mike Kemski of BANABU fame the other day that had some great things to say about what we all need to move forward in our businesses and our lives.

Here it is:

I'm sitting here with half a case of the flu pondering my life. And when I'm sick I always feel a little vulnerable and weak.

So I started thinking about other times I've felt like this and how I was able to take
action even when I was scared and felt like I couldn't pull it off.

Then the question popped up...

How do you take action when you're scared and don't recognize your own value?

You need to surround yourself with people who can not only see your value but also
extract it.

Even leaders need leadership...

Everyone has breakdowns in confidence at some point in life.

And being around people who believe in you more than you believe in yourself sometimes is one of the best ways I know how to get through those slumps.

They don't last forever and they're perfectly normal (and even useful if you know how to use them) but even so, those times in life certainly aren't fun!

If you've ever helped a kid learn to ride a bike you've noticed a few things.

That bike is very scary at first and they have no balance. So you hold onto the back of the seat and give them the balance they need which provides them with the confidence they need to learn to ride on their own.

Then as your trotting behind the bike and you get moving a little you let go.

Amazingly the bike keeps going and the kid is doing it all on their own until...

They look back and see you're no where near the bike anymore and then they crash!

The only thing that changed is their belief in their own ability.

For some it takes a couple more attempts with you holding the seat and for others it takes another month... Either way they needed you their for the confidence until they built up enough of their own to believe in their own ability.

And guess what?

The process is the same for every single person on the planet.

See, I want you to know that just because people understand how things work and how to create results, it doesn't mean that they get to just skip the part where they have to learn and grow.

That process where they learn and grow takes time no matter how you look at it.

But learning is just the first step. Knowing something will NEVER substitute experiencing something first hand.

Learning is the easy part...

Implementation is the scary part...

Find people in your life that will hold your "bike seat". Build the correct support team in your life and you will do things you never thought you could.

And notice I said correct support team, not just any team of people. Not everyone is a good fit for you and it may take some exploring to find where you fit but once you do, you'll know.

Because you'll feel that sense of value that you get and contribute to the team which locks in a place where you fit and belong...

Mike

Who you have supporting you is essential to your growth as a person and as a business person.

So why do we so often go all Lone Ranger on our business? I think it's because we like to think we can do it all, DESPITE the fact that we harbor insecurities that we can't.

We'd rather struggle and fail than let others know that we aren't able to do everything ourselves. But even Superman had his support team who urged him on.

Take the effort to seek out those who can encourage you, inspire you, support you. We all need that person to hold that bike seat for us until we discover what we were capable of all along.

Now, get ready, get set, and get connected!
Jeff


P.S. I really enjoy Mike. He has overcome more in his life than most people could bear. And he shares the steps he took to beat adversity and build himself into the type of person he longed to be in BANABU. I urge you to check it out. I have found working on building a better me to be an essential part of building a better business.

Labels: mindset, motivation