The one lesson from my twenties that got more important with age

Years ago, when I was a twenty-seven-year-old grad student I found myself completely paralyzed.

No, I’m not talking about physical paralysis. I’m talking about a mental one, I’m talking about having a burning desire to tackle something that felt incredibly challenging, even downright scary, and I couldn’t do it. Only it wasn’t exactly optional, it was something required of me at my job, a task I was completely capable of performing, only I found myself stricken by stuck-ness.

I simply couldn’t ‘see’ myself doing it. In other words, it was my own view of myself that was holding me back.

As you enter into this new year and you begin your list of new goals or resolutions, it’s easy to become myopic, to focus your energies into defining WHAT your goals will be and the logistics of your new schedule, rather than spending more time reflecting on the WHY question.

Why am I not doing those things I say I want to do?

Because at the heart of any enduring, positive changes to your life is You, and all that invisible emotional baggage you carry around with you. After all, it will be your consistent actions and follow-through each day that will determine whether your dream becomes a living, breathing reality. And this is where the insight about your own self-image, and those old beliefs and feelings you have about yourself will be helpful.

What happens if you don’t feel completely ready for aspects of your new undertaking?

What if you’re walking around with an outdated image of yourself that undermines your self-confidence?

What if underneath all your excitement about your latest goal, you can’t actually see yourself completing it?

If you’re like me, there will be times when you will need to simply ‘act-as if,” while you persevere through those times of struggle.

In a culture where only eight percent of people succeed at their New Year’s resolutions, I think this little lesson from my twenties can be a game-changer for you.

Let me explain.

When I was a graduate student, my first real job included keeping a specialty Eating Disorder Unit in a Southern California hospital filled with patients; this meant being the face of the unit in the bustling professional LA therapy community. Only at this point in my life I was still suffering with what I refer to as my “imposter” hang-up, based partly on fact. I had stretched my way into a dream job above my experience level, and without anyone to train me I found myself immersed in a fake-it-till-you make-it situation.”

For anyone with a modicum of self-confidence this would have been fine, however I was plop in the middle of my clinical program, and raw from my on-going personal therapy, (required for degree) and every day I was struggling to be successful at a new job on which every EDU employee’s work hours depended on — to say I felt like I was walking a thin tightrope is an understatement. I was completely in touch with all my insecurities. Which at this point included my lack of a Master’s degree.

Funny the things we give symbolic meaning to; I was surrounded by fellow staff members all with Masters degrees, PhDs and MDs and back then that felt like a metaphor for my life.

Fortunately, all my neurotic performance worries manifested in a Type A achievement on the job which meant at least outwardly, I appeared perfectly comfortable most of the time.

Except for this one situation.

It was to be my job to get up in front of a community of professionals who were coming to see our charismatic Medical Director and psychoanalyst, Manohar Shinde lead a teaching seminar in our hospital boardroom, and it was turning into a jam-packed event filled with clinicians, — that little old grad student Me, — had admired from afar.

“What?! Can’t someone else please do this?” I asked the Nursing Director, a woman who became a female mentor for me. “Pat-can’t-you-do-it, please?”

Of course not.

This was my job and when I wasn’t standing in front of a podium shaking, I was efficient at it.

On the afternoon before this dreaded event — which had now taken on ridiculous importance in my head — cementing my imposter status to the world — Dr. Shinde surprised me by stopping by my office and asking me to lunch.

A private lunch with our Medical Director was rare and I knew why.

Over our lunch — while he ate quickly and I picked at my salad — he listened with keen ears while I blurted out my litany of self-doubts about this situation, after which I was sure he would relieve me of this duty. Instead he gave me a bizarre response.

He said, “Yes, I think you will need to act as-if.”

I was confused. WTF? Was he telling me to pretend? Did this esteemed psychoanalyst and my personal role model whose daily focus was on uncovering one’s most authentic feelings and encouraging truth-telling, advising me to…fake it?!

“But… that’s not how I feel!!!” I blurted out. “I don’t feel like that person you’re asking me to be.”

Remember, as a full time employee I was practically living on a psych unit, this was the way staff talked.

And his answer was basically yes. He encouraged me to think of it this way. No psycho-mumbo-jumbo explanation, just this simple one-liner. Basically, there are times we must do things without that feeling of emotional readiness. But with our actions, often the (desired) emotions will follow.

I remember feeling stunned. Everything I was learning in my therapy and witnessing on the Eating Disorder Unit was focused on the principle of honoring our feelings. Exploring them. Working through them. Nowhere did it suggest ignoring them.

I was acutely aware that if I listened to my feelings right then, they were telling me this task was completely premature for my comfort level. I wasn’t ready. I was simply too insecure.

He wiped his mouth with a white paper napkin and hurried away after he patted my hand.

“I know you’ll be fine.” He smiled.

Well, I don’t need to tell you the end of this story.

You probably figured out that I did my job and it went fine; and for a brief time I stood up and acted like the confident person I hoped to be someday, feeling ever the faker, but once I got over the shock of having a fairly successful experience, I felt different.

Today I understand it. Although my insecurities of those days have become duller, I never forgot THAT CERTAIN FEELING I had afterwards. It was jolting and indisputable, an electrical charge wiring me for the future.

It was that feeling of, “Yes. I can do this.”

I realize now I would have been deprived of this small, transformative experience if I wasn’t forced to plow through my most primal fears and get to the other side.

To “Act As-If” means acting before we officially feel ready. It means honoring our feelings, but not being restrained by them. It means that you might be the smartest person in the room with the best intellectual grasp of your dream, but you’ll need to be aware that those same cognitive machinations can contribute to your decision to wait. And think about it some more.

When it comes to our dreams or goals, beware of what I call, analysis-paralysis.

I know from first-hand experience. Which is why you’re reading these words right now.

Action will be the game-changer in your life. And thankfully, it’s through your actions — whether they begin as New Year’s resolutions or simple habits — that will change the way you view yourself.

In the words of Oprah, “You get the life you have the courage to ask for.” Maybe I’ve been a slow learner of this ‘asking part.’ But I’m getting braver.

Are you feeling immobilized by those nagging self-doubts? Are you stuck waiting for that perfect moment to embark on your private dream?

Getting emotionally unstuck requires intentional action. Get moving, start small. Every day do one little thing toward your goal.

And remember.

There will be times when you just have to jump out into the air and grow wings on the way down.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 282,454+ people.

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