A Mason's Work

One of the things that we want to do as we grow and is a challenge for some of us, for

lots of really, really good reasons.

But one of the things that we want to do as we grow is to learn to trust ourselves.

Trusting yourself is a difficult proposition because more often than not, you are the cause

of your own troubles.

And so how do you trust the part of you that keeps getting used toc?

The short answer is this.

Take risks.

Take small risks.

Take risks that are manageable risks so that if the outcomes don't go your way, that you

can still survive.

So take the ultra risky stuff off the table where you're likely to die and anything less

so long as it's within your skill set to deal with, right?

Take risks.

The unknown is probably the strongest tool you have to develop yourself as a person.

You have the reflective tools and things like that and those are all important.

And when you're doing the kind of deconstruction stuff, you should, by all means, use those

kinds of tools.

But the things that you're going to use to grow yourself and develop your trust in you

is that risk taking and rising to the exchange, the occasion that rising to the occasion of

adversity and risk is vital.

It is nothing short of critical to your success and growth.

There has to be in these risks that we take.

There has to be skin or steaks or what have you in the game.

Meaning the consequence of losing has to be significant enough that you don't want to.

Things like I just got back from a hike on the Appalachian Trail.

It wasn't a long one, but it was, you know, risk abound, right?

If I fell during, you know, the process, they would have to have used a helicopter or

some sort to come get me.

That level of risk where you put yourself in a manageable amount of harm's way is where

you find and develop trust in yourself.

When you are in a professional setting, committing to a project that is bigger than you are used

to or when you are in an emotional setting where you commit to an emotional response that requires

more of you than normal.

These are great examples where you are creating the space to respond in a way that is going

to help you cultivate trust in your capabilities.

Trust in your, you know, your understanding, trust in your decision making process.

Trust broadly in your overall ability to both survive and or thrive in the face of the unknown.

In this process, you are going to cultivate trust in yourself.

This trusting yourself turns into confidence and confidence, therefore, can be learned.

If you find yourself being not confident, the thing you need to do is find identifiable

and manageable risks that you can take to help challenge yourself and then respond to

those challenges in a way that will help you essentially learn from your mistakes and

keep growing.

That's a big part of the mission.

Good luck.

Keep me posted.

Let me know how it goes.