Aha Moment Monday
How do you bust through challenges?
At one event I attended, a Karate expert was brought in to teach everyone how to break boards.
Now, Karate isn’t a discipline that everyone gravitates toward so there was certainly apprehension in the crowd when each participant was handed a board and asked for their attention.
The facilitator gave us markers and directed us to write something on the board that we believed was holding us back.
Some people wrote a salary cap. Others wrote a negative comment that a teacher or parent said that they still owned. Others identified past failures or physical shortcomings that was their reason for not excelling.
The exercise demanded that you not only honestly identify that debilitating phrase, but that you commit to releasing it.
The Master, through instruction and demonstration, took everyone through board-breaking. Seemed straight-forward enough. Then it was our turn.
In our groups of six, two people held a board and the owner of what was written on it, was encouraged to bust it.
You can imagine the sound in the room when a hundred, then two hundred, then three hundred people snapped their boards and cheered.
How liberating!!
It came down to a final few who, through several attempts, could not create so much as a splinter.
As one person stared at what he had written on his plank, he froze. Others cried, backed away or flopped to the ground in exhaustion.
Eventually the crowd got behind these final few.
One at a time, each member with a one-piece board was asked to confirm that what was written on their board was impeding their progress. They were then asked to acknowledge that they felt worthy of overcoming it.
With that confirmation the crowd poured enormous, vocal energy into helping every last individual become victorious.
Aha – sometimes you have to believe in another’s belief in you, until your belief kicks in.
Beyond self-doubt, even some of the most successful people experience “imposter syndrome”.
That limiting story you tell yourself about your capabilities – whether you originated the story or someone else did – can lead to an incorrect assessment of your true ability.
And it’s that assessment that stands in judgment and dilutes your energy. Another’s belief in you might just be the piggyback ride you need to regain focus.
“The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” ~ Gichin Funakoshi
Hajime!
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