Do One Thing That Scares You Every DayBoo
Boo
Do One Thing That Scares You Every Day
I learn most effectively in an environment I am least familiar with.
And I strive everyday to put myself in uncomfortable situations because I am a firm believer in that is the best way for me to grow. Luckily, there are so many opportunities in life — especially in college — to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and start learning.
I make a conscious effort to do this.
A good, “easy” way to get started is to pick one of your biggest weaknesses. For me, that was confidently public speaking. Though I enjoy going up and talking, I have never been the very best at it. And that is why I joined a student group on campus — Arch Consulting. While the club focused on the case competitions and consulting practices — I saw it as a prime opportunity to practice public speaking. AKA: a prime opportunity to do something that I was afraid of.
And it turned out to be a great investment of my time. I practiced something that was pretty foreign to me and after many sleepless nights — improved. Would you look at that? Hard work over a long period of time == success.
When you do things like this, you learn super quickly. Let’s call it a state of hyper-learning. The distinction is that it is much easier to go from 0–100 (real quick) than it is to go from 100–150. You grow more quickly at the beginning.
And in part of becoming a well-rounded individual, it is important to pad your weaknesses and make them strengths.
To do this, look for an opportunity for hyper-quick learning. Find something you are not good at. (easy for me, lots of things) And then find the smallest version of that thing and do it.
For example — since I didn’t like public speaking that much I wanted to get in front of people and talk. But that did not mean I had to wait for an opportunity to get on a big stage. No. I found the closest thing I could — which happened to be case competitions — to best test my learning.
You can do it too!
Woah. You read the whole thing! Thank you so much. I’d really appreciate if you shared this with a friend!
Let’s continue this conversation
twitter — @itsjordangonen
email — jordangonen@wustl.edu
By jordangonen on May 15, 2016.
Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.