By Klean Team Sponsored Athlete Lisa Roberts
How many of us look at our weaknesses and try to ignore them, hide them or pretend they don’t exist? It’s so much easier and more fun to do what we’re good at all the time. But what if we turned that around to fully acknowledge what our weaknesses are, bring them to the forefront and use them to make us better? And dare I say, DO THEM MORE!
Nobody excels at EVERYTHING! There’s no point in spending time trying to. When you take that first step to identify and acknowledge what your weakness is, fully embrace it. Welcome it. Accept it. Break it down into smaller pieces, if you can. It might not be as overwhelming an issue as you originally thought. When we take the time to identify it, we can start to quantify it and it becomes less vague and insurmountable. There may be times when we need to seek specific help for a weakness and once you know what it is you can take steps to address it. If that’s the case, seek that help.
Don’t be afraid of your weakness; it doesn’t define who you are. Lean into it. Do more of it! For example, I’ve never been a great triathlon swimmer. For many years I tried to ignore it, often becoming so frustrated that I would skip sessions or stop doing it, worrying that I couldn’t hit the times I wanted. I sought help about it and got it from many. But only when I was completely honest with myself and acknowledged that it wasn’t only the sub-par swimming, but also that I was afraid of being embarrassed by it, that I finally let go and started to enjoy swimming again.
And you know what? I started swimming more because I was no longer afraid of being embarrassed. Yes, I got a little faster as a result, BUT I was so much happier overall that it spilled over into my daily life, my cycling, my running and even my relationships improved.
So, acknowledge your weakness, own it and then lean into it, because what good does it do to pretend it’s not there?
The potential for improvement by acknowledging and embracing your weaknesses is far greater than the weakness itself. Once you regularly do this honest internal assessment, the possibilities of where you can take your newly found self-awareness is limitless! I challenge you to take a few minutes to think about a weakness that might be holding you back somewhere. Do you procrastinate? Are you not making your health or nutrition a priority? Do you struggle to ride your bike up a steep hill ? Are you clumsy while trying to run a technical trail? Whatever it is, find it, acknowledge it, embrace it and then challenge yourself to accept it.
You’ll be stronger for it!