The most difficult part of getting started in a new venture is battling the voices in our head. If we choose to undertake a new activity that requires a new skill, we will start out performing at a less than desirable level. That’s a fact and there is no way to sugarcoat it.
Here are some strategies to help you through the early and difficult stages of new skill development.
- Set realistic expectations for yourself. Too often people base their expectations on their observation of people who make it look easy.
- Count the cost in advance and determine if it’s worth it. When it becomes difficult, you must be able to reflect on why you want to learn this new skill and how it will feel once you become proficient.
- Find a coach/mentor to help you. Ideally, they would be someone who has developed the skill themselves. Most importantly, they must be good at helping others develop the skill. A good coach/mentor can help you develop a training plan, point you towards valuable resources, and meet with you regularly to give feedback and hold you accountable.
- Learn to recognize the inevitable voices in your head. It’s way more important what you say to yourself than what others say to you. Whether you realize it or not, you are always talking to yourself. It’s only natural that your self-talk will be non-encouraging at the beginning of a new endeavor. Be aware of it and have a plan to deal with it. That plan could include replacing ideas that are not helpful with ideas you have developed in advance to support you when times are challenging. Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off and focus on doing what you know you should do. Don’t get caught overthinking.
- Limit external voices that might support fear, doubt, and worry. They may love you, but if they are not able to help you during the early learning phase, remove their voices particularly if they want to give you opinions about what you should or shouldn’t do. Reserve that for your coach/mentor.
- Get a buddy. Having someone to take the journey with you gives you a great support system. You can also hold each other accountable.
- Be patient. Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare.
- Focus on learning one thing at a time. Focus on what’s next. Learning consumes emotional and mental energy. Don’t sign up to learn multiple things at once. Limit anything else that draws on your reserves of energy so you can put your best effort into learning your chosen skill.
- Measure progress initially based on commitments made before measuring performance.
- “Show up and don’t quit” will guarantee success eventually in most things. Show up and get started. The only real failure in life is to never start. Once you start, refuse to quit. Don’t let quitting become your habitual response to difficult undertakings. Let the reason you want to quit be the reason not to quit. Doubt, fear, and worry normally seduce us into quitting. When we quit, we make an uncertain thing certain.