“So you wanna level up.”

We say we want to get better at climbing outside, but we never leave the gym. 

We say we want to improve our nutrition, but we go out for beers after climbing. 

We talk about the big dream, but we don’t make a plan to get there.

Why is it that so often, we say we want one thing but we fail to follow through?

There’s some outdated circuitry in our brain telling us it’s risky to go all in and do the things we want to do. Going all in feels vulnerable: no excuses if we fail.

But it’s worth noting that there are also no consequences, so we may as well try. 

We can’t change our wiring. There’s a voice in our head whose job it is to tell us to be careful, to stay safe, to avoid the risk. It knows us well and can be incredibly persuasive.

But when we are seeking to put ourselves out there, to go all in, and to level up, we should remind ourselves the risk isn’t real. 

The voice will tell us otherwise, but we can decide not to listen to it.

This is adapted from this post by Seth Godin, who captures this idea more clearly than I ever could.