4x4x48 Postmortem

Wow it has been a while since I wrote anything. I think I let the enormity of the 4x4x48 challenge overwhelm me for a while. It took me a long time to get past the fear of this challenge. Even though I felt highly motivated for this challenge I dealt with quite a bit of fear of failure. As it turned out having the fear of failure was a good thing. It forced me to confront what I believed was my limitations and abilities.

This fear became a huge obstacle and we all know that obstacles are opportunities waiting to happen. It is up to each of us to do the work needed to turn that opportunity into a reality. I have to admit that I never fully got past this fear of failure. In my mind I always had the bell beside my head. When the Navy Seal candidates go through Hell Week, for those who can not make it and decide it is time to quit, they must ring the bell as they leave the compound for everyone to see and hear. It is said that the sound of that bell will remain in the ears and mind of anyone who had to ring the bell for the rest of their lives as a reminder for quitting. When you think about it that can be a very harsh reminder to be stuck with for the rest of your life. I did not want that to happen to me and was determined not to let it happen. It truly is amazing what you can put your mind, body and soul through when you are refusing to quit. It requires you to let yourself go to some deep, dark and uncomfortable places in order to beat the fear of failure. But we can all do this. It is within every single one of us. We were designed to persevere and do hard things in life.

Doing the 4x4x48 challenge may not be your hard thing to do, but I guarantee you that there is your own 4x4x48 hard challenge within all of you and it is ok to fear it. What is not ok though is to hide from it. Confront it, own it and do it no matter if failure is the end result. Because even if failure happens you learn from it so that next time failure is defeated. Remember "If You Fear This, You Must Do This".

Thanks and as always your thoughts and comments are always welcome.