A Painful Truth

12th May 2023
Read time:  2 minute 20sec

“You’re good enough the way you are”

This is a phrase that I have been thinking about a lot recently.

It’s a phrase that is used as a form of compassion to others and ourselves.

Essentially it’s spoken with love to stop us being so harsh on ourselves.

I hear it spoken to a range of people; from students to CEO’s.

But the harsh truth is: you may not be good enough as you are.

Why?

Because you CAN be better than what you are right now. And you should take great contentment in that fact.

But Lewis if I’m not good enough as I am, is it worth even trying?

Don’t confuse not being good enough with self worth. We all have the right, and are worthy enough to, give it a go and pursue what is meaningful to us.

Most of my work with my clients is about addressing what would get them to where they want to be.

Professional athletes have this inner belief that they are good enough, but are constantly working towards getting better because they feel things could be better.

As humans we feel self confidence also from a sense of achievement, of competency and of trajectory towards something.

If we stay as we are, we risk:

  • Not knowing what to do to get out of a dark place.
  • Not striving for anything
  • Feeling inadequate
  • Going backwards
  • Stagnating

And none of these are good for us in the long run.

“But why can’t I tell myself I’m good enough as I am?”

What if you’re having a terrible time? What if you’re really struggling? What if you’re miserable? Are you really good enough as you are then? That doesn’t help anyone.

The only way out is through the fog.

We all know that we could be doing something to better ourselves.

And in knowing that fact, we silently suffer in this inadequacy (not necessarily with others but of a version of us that we aren’t becoming).

So how do we get out of this?

🔍 Identify something small and achievable.

Picking something that you COULD do and WOULD do to feel that little bit better than you do now.

Face something you know will make you feel better about yourself for doing.

It could be whatever you’re beating yourself up about at the moment – your lack of goals, your weight, your health, your work, your relationships, take your pick.

All this takes courage.

Courage to take the first step

Courage to set the bar low enough to achieve something small and progress from there.

Courage to want to be better than you are.

And in the pursuit of this better, you’ll overcome the suffering or inadequacy.

❗️ Caution ❗️

While you know you could be better, don’t get so caught up in continuous striving that you forget to acknowledge your own achievements along the way.

Read that again. It’s important.

The truth is you may not be fine the way you are – again, I’m sorry. But you can be so much better (infinitely better) if you have the courage to go after what you want.

The cool thing is that in 10 years from now you could be incomparably better than what you are.

All it requires is to identify what that one small thing could be and have the courage to do something about it.

🗯️ Create Courage with a MindStrong Mantra

In Chapter 3, Exercise 8 of the MindStrong Mindset Course we discover a MindStrong mantra to move you from a place of going small to tall, creating the courage you could need to go after a better version of yourself.

Using a mantra moves us to action, whether it’s in the morning or in a performance. The great thing about them is you create them for when you think you’d need them.

Recap

You may not be good enough as you are.

You could be way better.

Identify something you could and would do.

Have the courage to take action (create a mantra if needed).

Know you ARE worthy to have a go at it.

Watch what happens.

Whenever you're ready, consider:

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