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You Can Do This. Natalie Hughes Removes the Blocks.

By on August 6, 2013
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What is standing in between good and great?

I’m not so skilled at many things: baseball (I’m convinced the ball is going to hit my face, so catching the baseball with my eyes closed is unlikely,) accounting (columns of numbers look like a foreign language to my artistic mind,) and keeping a tidy filing cabinet (let’s not analyze–this seems like no fun anyway.)

But I’m pretty good at a few things: digging deep when writing songs, singing with conviction and being perceptive about people. I’ve often wondered what makes those that are phenomenal at their craft reach their highest potential. How do they make the jump from being merely skilled to being in the top one percent of the human race?

Well, like I always say, “Ask for understanding and it will reveal itself.”

I recently had the privilege of attending a training seminar on how to coach people. I went in to the day thinking I would be learning about how to give constructive feedback and how important positive reinforcement is. I expected that this program would closely mimic all of the other coaching sessions I’ve attended…there was one that compared people to eagles or ducks and another program about different leadership styles and how to apply them. There have been others, all of which were intended to impart to me and to my people more knowledge, more motivation and ultimately more productivity. Truthfully, most of the information burned bright and fizzled out within a month or so.

I’m thrilled to say that I was wrong about the new session. According to this particular coach, his clients didn’t need to add anything–no knowledge, no skill. They needed only to remove all barriers, because their ability is inherent. Let me say that one more time:

 

your ability is inherent.

 

So as I sat, listening to this presentation that was intended to make me a better leader, my mind raced into my own personal journey and I saw this information in a whole different light: I can apply this to creating my most magnificent life, my passion and my dream! So I asked myself:

What is standing in the way of making good works GREAT works?

Is it self discipline? Maybe a little. (see my article on Creative Discipline for my thoughts on that!)

Is it time spent? Practice is crucial to honing a skill, but it’s only one small piece of the puzzle.

Is it the need for more information and knowledge? Probably not… in fact I’m already pretty well versed in many areas of my art. I have all of the information I need to create my biggest dreams. I’ve got a world of great books, I’ve got the internet for instant info, and I’ve been storing things in my brain for a good many years. I just may not always be acting on it.

So here it is–for all of us:

The biggest barriers that we will ever encounter are our own tiny brains and what those brains believe to be true.

The absolute bottom line is that our swimming, swirling, needy thoughts are the block, standing in the way of greatness, in all of the following ways:

Our need for acceptance. We worry what others think until we are no longer aware of our own worth.

Our need to be right–even if it means proving that we are not good enough, just as we suspected (or as someone may have told us in the past.)

Our need to keep things the same. Change is a very precarious process.

Our need for attention. The turmoil and drama we experience from existing in failure can actually have a payoff for us, however strange it may sound. We can spend a lot of time and energy talking about the parts of our life that are floundering… and we gather people around ourselves that give us the feedback we crave, keeping the endless circle turning.

I know I have allowed all of these beliefs and needs to stand in my way at different times, but I’m learning to challenge myself to go beyond them daily, even hourly.

What barrier can you remove to get you one step closer to the life you know you are made to lead?

Where do you need to challenge yourself?

Because you’ve got it all.

 

beauty_backNatalie Hughes is the Editor in Chief of simplywoman.com, a singer/songwriter, recording artist, the co-host of The Crystal Andrus Show on CBS New Sky Radio, and the musical director for Crystal Andrus Productions. For more visit nataliehughes.com and find Natalie on iTunes,  Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

 

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