Show Notes
In this episode of the Power and Motion podcast, we explore the transformative power of doing hard things. Life inevitably presents us with challenges, but instead of dreading these experiences, we can learn to welcome them as opportunities for growth and learning.
A key part of embracing hard things is growing our failure capacity. This involves changing our mindset about failure, viewing it not as a negative outcome but as a valuable learning experience.
By embracing hard things and growing our failure capacity, we can unlock our full potential and achieve our goals.
About the Host
Kim Hagle (she/her) is Certified Personal Trainer, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Body Image Coach and founder of Radiant Vitality Wellness.
Through mindset and movement coaching she helps women heal their relationship with food and exercise while disconnecting their worth from their weight, so they can feel healthy, happy and confident in the body they have.
Want to feel good in your body without focusing on weight? Register for our 5 day mini training course. For just $27, you’ll receive one short video and worksheet each day for 5 days that will help get started with the non-diet approach and feeling better in and about your body.
Ready to take the next step? Visit our website to learn more about our coaching programs
Let’s stay in touch! Kim is on Instagram and Facebook @radiantvitalitywellness.
Disclaimer. The information contained in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a health care professional about your unique needs.
Embracing Difficult Experiences: The Power of Doing Hard Things
Life is filled with hard things. It’s an inevitable part of our existence. But have you ever considered that these difficult experiences don’t have to be dreadful? In fact, they can be transformative.
This topic was inspired by a recent experience with a client in my studio. She was struggling with a new exercise that required her to balance on one foot. As she wobbled and fell, she began to compare herself to me, someone who practices this move regularly. She was hard on herself, questioning why she couldn’t master what seemed like a simple exercise.
The Truth About Trying New Things
We often expect ourselves to be perfect at everything the first time we try it. But if that were true, we wouldn’t have experts, and everyone would know how to do everything. The reality is, I gave her that challenging move because it was what she needed to strengthen her muscles and improve her alignment and pain.
The fear of failure often holds us back from achieving our goals. But what if we could reframe how we think about the word “hard”? What if we could see the potential for growth and learning in these challenging experiences?
Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone
Imagine your comfort zone as a bubble. Everything inside this bubble is familiar and comfortable. But all the things you want in life that you don’t have yet are outside this bubble. To achieve these goals, you have to break out of your comfort zone, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Doing hard things doesn’t mean that life has to be hard all the time. In fact, we often make things harder on ourselves by believing that anything worth having is hard. By changing our relationship with the word “hard”, we can invite more ease into our lives.
Growing Your Failure Capacity
To embrace hard things, we need to grow our failure capacity. This involves changing our mindset about failure, having our own back, knowing when to ask for help, and relying on our evidence bank of past successes. By doing this, we can create a safe space for ourselves to try new things, to make mistakes, and to learn from these experiences. Let’s break this down:
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Change Your Mindset About Failure: Instead of viewing failure as a negative outcome, we can reframe it as a learning experience. Just like a baker perfecting a recipe or a child learning to ride a bike, each failure teaches us something valuable that brings us one step closer to our goal. It’s important to remember that failure doesn’t define you as a person. It’s simply a part of the process of growth and learning.
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Have Your Own Back: It’s crucial to be kind and compassionate to ourselves when we make mistakes or face challenges. Just as we would encourage a child learning to ride a bike, we should offer ourselves the same support and encouragement. Instead of berating ourselves for our struggles, we can acknowledge our feelings of frustration or discouragement and remind ourselves that it’s okay to find things hard. We can tell ourselves, “It’s okay. Mistakes are how I learn. Of course, this is hard. I’ve never done it before. I will get this. Or maybe I won’t, but that’s okay too.”
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Know When to Ask for Help: Society often tells us that we should be able to figure out everything ourselves and that needing help is a sign of weakness. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Nobody knows how to do everything, and it’s perfectly okay to seek help when we need it. Whether it’s asking a friend for advice, hiring a coach or mentor, or seeking professional help, reaching out for assistance is a sign of strength, not weakness.
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Rely on Your Evidence Bank: We all have past experiences of success that we can draw upon when facing new challenges. These successes serve as evidence that we are capable and resilient. When faced with a difficult task, instead of focusing on what we don’t know or can’t do, we can remind ourselves of all the times we’ve overcome challenges in the past. This can help boost our confidence and motivate us to keep going, even when things get tough.
By growing our failure capacity, we can create a safe and supportive environment for ourselves to take on hard things. We can learn to see each challenge not as a threat, but as an opportunity for growth and learning.
Conclusion
Hard things are inevitable, but they don’t have to be dreadful. By changing our perspective and embracing these experiences, we can unlock our full potential and achieve our goals. So, what are you avoiding because it feels too hard? What do you need to believe about yourself to feel safe taking action? Remember, you can do hard things. You have the strength, the resilience, and the capacity to face these challenges head-on. And remember, every challenge is an opportunity for growth.
