10KSB - Coach Follows His Own Advice

I always think it's helpful when you can see a coach/mentor/advisor following their own advice, so I'm sharing this with you.

I was recently accepted into a business course presented by one of the best-known business schools in the USA. 

It's a scholarship program, so the course is free, but the requirements are high and took me a couple years to get accepted (you can apply to the program yourself right here). 

I've just completed the orientation week and I'm already very happy that I didn't allow things like fear-induced apathy ("I don't really need this program"), self-doubt ("What if I can't complete the course?"), or my current stress level ("I just don't have time for this") become excuses that stopped me. 

A couple lessons to take away:

#1 - Determination: Persistence in the face of challenges. 

In 2019 I learned about the program, and applied on a whim, assuming that my application wouldn't be accepted due to the small size of my business.

It turned out I was actually a PERFECT FIT for the program, EXCEPT I did not yet have enough business data to complete the application that year.

Minor hurdle - easily resolved with patience. In 2020 re-applied... then of course COVID hit. I didn't hear back from them until early 2021. 

This time I zipped through the application process and was accepted into the program... BUT - like I mentioned early the requirements are intense and one of them is 100% attendance, which I was not able to do.

So they DEFERRED me for 6 months. 

Now, FINALLY, I'm able to start the course (even though I still won't be able to do 100% attendance, but I worked it out with them), and I'm proud of myself for not dropping the ball or backing out during this multi-year process. 

#2 Courage in the face of fear

I'm excited about the course, but it's coming at a time where I feel very stressed about other factors. Right up until day 1 I was still considering backing out so I could "focus on what's more important"

Of course, this was only fear talking. It's much better to make my best attempt and possibly fail later, than to completely miss out on this opportunity. 

But failure is an unlikely possibility - if I'm being realistic I will likely pass without much issue and gain all the promised benefits. 

So from both and optimist AND a pessimistic view, it makes sense to make the effort. 

#3 Different actions, different results

I haven't taken a proper academic/scholarly course since I graduated college! It will be nice to be in that kind of environment again, as well as being surrounded by all of the people in the course that represent different businesses and industries, as well as the coaches and instructors with all their expertise.

I'll be in contact with people and businesses that I've never even heard about before! I'll be in the kinds of conversations that I just can't have anywhere else! 

There will be A LOT of opportunities to try different things, learn from different people, and create new results!

Much of the time we take advice from people that have been doing what they do for so long, they can start to feel different from ourselves. Special. Like the results that they achieved happened by magic while the rest of us continue to struggle.

I wanted to share this to say that I am STILL just like everyone else in here. I still have to consciously and sometimes with much effort, follow the steps that I so often encourage you guys to take.

As I encourage you, I encourage myself, and as you take action, I am inspired to do more myself. 

So if there is anyone out there debating changing things up - going back to school, signing up for a programming bootcamp, doing a crash course on Google Scholar, learning a new skill like cooking, etc. etc. etc. take my example here and DO IT!

You won't really know if it's good until after you seriously start - so drop your excuses and get started today!