Week 69 - “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion " - Abraham Lincoln

Many of us are far too content with our current situations in life. So much so that when we achieve or possess things, we tend to be more impressed with ourselves than involved. As a result, we end up just being happy where we are, and detached from whatever we are doing.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, think about the last time you messed up something important. Maybe it was an easy missed goal, stumbling over your words when you went to talk to that girl, or even messing up that last job interview you had. Regardless of what it is, we all can relate to the feeling.

But why does it happen?

Even when we practice something hundreds of times, it still feels like the pressure of the moment can get to us and undermine all of our work.

Maybe it’s because when we let the moment get bigger than us, we become more impressed with what it is we’re doing and less involved in it. As a result, we stop living in the moment and forget who we are or all the preparation we’ve done.

So how can we stay more present when it feels like it’s all on the line?

I think Matthew McConaughey hit the hammer on the nail.

“When we mentally give a person, place, or point in time more credit than ourselves, we then create a fictitious ceiling, a restriction, over the expectations we have of our own performance in that moment. We get tense, we focus on the outcome instead of the activity, and we miss the doing of the deed.”

I’m sure many of you can relate, but I often don’t think I’m worthy of the chances I get. Call it imposter syndrome or the truth, but the feeling that don’t belong somewhere or deserve the opportunity for something is one I’m all too familiar with.

But this is an interesting way of looking at it. Yeah, I may not deserve the opportunities I get, but when they’re in front of me, that doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is what I do with them.

I can either be too impressed with what’s in front of me, and freeze up, or plunge myself into whatever it is I’m doing to have a chance at success. It’s a choice I can make which means it’s in my control.

So the time you find yourself in one of those important situations, remember that it’s all about being less impressed by the moment and more involved.

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