I would encourage myself not to give up.
I have only recently discovered that I tend to toss in the towel on my projects when I do not see the progress I think I should have. I know now that creating anything takes years of hard work behind the scenes before anything tangible comes to fruition. All too often I have worked hard at something and then decided to completely erase the project so that there is no evidence of my perceived failure.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
If I could give myself advice it would be “Failure is good.” To fail means that you tried, you gave it a chance and it crashed. But crashes do not have to be a glaring mark on your life, they are the building blocks of future success.
10 years ago, I did not have any role models or examples that were freely shared with me about the positive side of failing. Only having internet celebrities showing the grand success they achieved through their efforts is not a representation of reality. Sometimes people succeed on their first try, or so it seems. Behind the scenes of any success story are countless moments of growth that add up to that success that brings the person out into the spotlight.
10 years ago, I had never heard the word “entrepreneur” and it was not until very recently that I discovered what it really means. The textbook definition of entrepreneur does not reveal the lens through which the entrepreneurial individual sees the world.
In a basic sense, the entrepreneur sees a gap in what is and what can be and figures out how to bridge that gap.
10 years ago, I remember seeing these gaps but I never thought about how to bridge them. I operated under the idea that there was somebody out in the world whose job was to do that for everybody else.
10 years ago, I believed that there were things people were good at and things that they are not. I accepted this mindset from those around me and did not question how illogical it is.
How does anybody get good at anything? Through practice, trial and error, by failing ten times and succeeding once. Nobody is born innately great at any skill. People develop amazing skills by constantly practicing the skill.
When we fail and try to hide our failure, we are not allowing ourselves to grow. Growth cannot happen without failing over and over again.
If I could go back 10 years to give myself advice, I do not think I would go. I believe that everything that I have done in my life has led me to be who I am today. If I changed anything, I do not think I would have arrived at the place of growth I am in now.
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