Capability Starts With Testing

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Yo, yo, yo, welcome back to the Further Your Lifestyle Podcast Conversations on Lifestyle Passions and Hustles. My name's Chris. I am your host, and I'm super excited to be back here having the conversation with you. Episode 260 today. And I want to ask you a question. And the question is, how do you know what you're capable of if you've never actually tested yourself? And what I mean by that, it's like it's not about what have you thought about that you're capable of, but what have you actually tested to actually know what you're capable of? And the whole topic today is a lot of the time we think we know what we're capable of. And this is not to say that sorry to disappoint you, but it's more about we we tend to put this whole perspective around when I have more experience, that's when I'll act. But it doesn't work like that. Like that's not how we enable ourselves to further our lifestyles. Life actually works in a very simple formula. It's action gets you experience, gets you capacity, gets you possibility. And with action, you gain experience, which then means you gain the capacity for the ability to be able to make things possible. And if you skip the first step, well, you're never actually going to know what is available to you. And that's why I talk about here that we actually need to get out there, do one thing that's going to get us closer to where we want to be. That is the topic today. We're going to break it down over a number of different points, a number of different areas, just some things that are like relevant to what I've experienced and how that's played out for me. Obviously, when you gain experience, there's pros and cons to all of that because you learn what to do, but you also learn not what to do. But that's why taking action is so important. But the core theme that I really really want to address today is like we limit ourselves with the ability of what we're capable of doing simply because we see others and their success and we think there's no way we could ever catch up to that. Or we limit ourselves based on what we think we know about ourselves. But have we actually gotten out there and given it a go? That's what we're talking about today. If these episodes you enjoy, please make sure you hit like, subscribe, you can leave a comment, you can continue the conversation. But if you think this is something that's really relevant for someone else, give it a share. That would mean the absolute world to me. We're gonna roll the intro and let's get into it.

Action Is The Only Entry Fee

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So action is is free, right? When we take action, it simply is free. It does not cost you anything other than energy, right? Everybody wants confidence, we all want clarity, we all all want experience, and we all want results, and usually results that we are of a positive nature, but very few want to actually pay the entry fee, which is action, right? And action is that entry fee, but it's also free. Like all you got to do is just do it, right? Now, people think, well, no, but it's gonna cost me time, it's gonna cost me effort. It's like, yes, but it's it's really something that a lot of the time we make excuses not to do it when really why aren't you giving yourself the reasons of why you should be doing it, right? Action means uncertainty, it does mean discomfort, and it means sometimes looking silly and also not knowing. And that's what scares people by taking action. It means you will look like you have no idea what you're doing, you will be uncomfortable, you may look silly, and you may not know how to do it, and you might not get the result you expect, and you might fail, right? But you can't learn anything from standing still. This morning,

A Real Example From Running

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so I'm getting back into running. I've been slowly, slowly getting back into it. And that's the thing, I've been challenged with all the excuses. I know what I'm capable of doing, but at the moment, it's a struggle because I've had to start from zero again because I had an injury and I have to rebuild all of that. And I was umming and ringing, oh, it was raining, oh, it's another excuse to have to go out and do it. You know, like the rain stops. I'm like, stop, I'm just gonna get out. I'll just do 2K. I got out there and I'm like, you know what? It's it doesn't look like it's gonna rain for a bit, so I did 4K. You take the opportunity, you take action, and then you can realize what you have the capacity to do, and the possibilities are endless. We'll get to that though. So

Collect Data Through Experience

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when we when we have experience, it changes everything. It changes the perspective of things, it gives you the ability, it gives you power once you have experience. The second you act, it's the moment you can start collecting data. And when you collect data, not opinions, not theories, but when you collect data, you learn what's working, you learn what doesn't work, you learn what will excite you, you learn what drains you out, you learn what you're naturally good at, and where you need work at as well. And none of that comes from just thinking. Experience turns assumptions into awareness. And with that awareness, you have knowledge, and with that knowledge, you can execute at a higher level, hence furthering your lifestyle, right? And that's and that's that simple, right?

Capacity Builds And Fear Shrinks

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So we then move on to awareness, which expands our capacity with the ability to be able to do. This is where things get very, very interesting. This, I guess the way we can put it is the more you do, the more your world will expand, right? Which gives you that additional capacity to be able to have ideas and to go out and do new things and to take on new opportunity. Things that once felt impossible become the new normal, right? Examples, right? Public speaking. People tell me, oh, I'm not good at talking. It's like, well, when was the last time you got out and put yourself in a position where you have to be confronting that and getting better at it? You can only get better, you can't get worse. Running a 5K, right? Well, no, sure, you're not gonna go out and run 5K first, but you're gonna go out and run 100 meters, then 200 meters, then a K, then 2K, then 3K, then 4K, then 5K. You're gonna build up to it. Starting a business, I'm six years in. Sure, we've done amazing things, but there is so much I do not know. But the more we do, the more we get into it, the more we fail, the more we learn, the more we learn, right? The more experience I get to be able to go do something more. Having difficult conversations with people, this is this is a tough one. It surprises me how much we neglect this, right? Leading people, backing yourself, the list will continue to go on. At one point, those things have felt huge. At one point, those things have been a challenge, or at one point they will be a challenge. But then once you get through it, they're just another day. They're just another Tuesday, right? Capacity grows quietly and it grows your ability to be able to just make things happen because they're just second nature to you. It's like driving a car. At the start, it's crazy, it's chaos, it's scary, it's unknown. But now, once you have your license, you're able to drive, you can drive with comfort, you can be able to have a conversation, you can stay really focused and attentive to what's going on in front of you while having other things happening next to you. So, capacity reveals what's possible, right? Once

When Goals And Identity Expand

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your capacity grows, your goals can change and will change because you now know more information that you did not know when you first potentially started. When I started running, all I wanted to do was do a race and run with Carla because I was interested in her at the time. So I joined up and that was some time or a way to spend time with her. Little did I know that I'd go on to want to do half marathons, do a marathon, do ultra marathons, and now it's something that I love and enjoy, regardless of anyone else, right? So your goals will change, your standards will change as well because you get new information and you can start to form better ideas and better opinions and better understanding of things, right? Your identity will also change. Again, because you have a bigger capacity. You did not know what you did not know, but now you know more things. Therefore, you're gonna mold differently, sometimes for the worse, or sometimes hopefully always for the better. But you'll start asking, can I do this? And well, sorry, you you used to ask, can I do this? And you'll probably stop asking it, and you'll start asking about, well, how far can I actually take this? And that was the difference of when I started my business. Is it's like, okay, can I do this? Okay, we're making it work. Now I'm in the position of like, okay, how far can I take this? And how do we get it to that space? How do we get it to that next level? The the opportunity is unlimited. But there's always a level of we, I guess, suppress where we're capable of achieving because we've only ever gotten to a certain point. So then you think, oh, well, if I can do this, I can probably do that. When really you're probably going to be able to do even more than that, but you just haven't really opened up that capacity to be able to believe it. Right. Most

Stop Waiting Start Moving

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people never discover their potential. And you probably ask why. And it's not because they're incapable. It's not because they don't have the ability to do it. It's because they never start. It's because they wait around for certainty, they wait around for the confidence to do it, they wait around for the perfect timing, they wait around for permission. And by doing that, they never collect the experience. They never collect the experience required to know what's possible, right? And potential means nothing, absolutely nothing, if you do not take action. I mean, it's it's really that simple, folks. This is a short and sweet episode. Like we're not even at 10 minutes yet. But a couple of questions I want to ask you, taking all of this in. Where in your life are you waiting for experience before actually taking action? What are you overthinking instead of actually testing? Get out there, get data, get real results. And what could become possible if you just gave it a go? Right. So here's here's some closing thoughts as well that I jotted this down before. You don't find your limits by thinking, you find them by moving, right? By taking action. And the beautiful thing, beautiful thing is, most of the time your limits weren't limits at all. They were just places you had never been yet or things you've never done. Right? And that's because we we do limit ourselves because we do not know what we do not know. But if you get the knowledge, if you get the experience, that capacity for opportunity will grow. And that is how you further your lifestyle.

Final Questions And Sign Off

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Appreciate you being here. If you wanted to continue the conversation, you can jump down below and we can have a conversation. Drop a comment, ask a question, tell me what you're dealing with at the moment. I really love that. Otherwise, we'll be back here again next week doing it all again. I'll see you when I'm looking at you. Ciao.