Worry, fear, doubt, and what-ifs are normal defensive thoughts ... trying to protect us from "failure." The ability to hear those scared thoughts but not listen to them takes a ton of passion, faith, and a willingness to believe in the unbelievable.
It's difficult to do this because everyone tells us to be "realistic," and not risk. We've heard it from our parents and family since birth. "Be careful, sweetheart. Don't jump off the couch... you may hurt yourself." And as we leave the house, "Be safe today."
Sure, it's instinct for parents to want to protect their babies (and believe me, being a new daddy, I understand this instinct), but what if we programmed our kids to risk failure every day?! I'm not talking about running in the middle of the street into traffic. I mean programming those little minds to look at failure as a key to success. Help them when they fall, but rarely tell them NOT to fall. Will accidents happen? Yep! Will they become fearless at a very early age? Yep!
Fearlessness has a negative tone when we're young. It's only after we become adults are we expected not to be afraid of failure. How is this possible after years and years of fearful linking?
Instead of waiting until adulthood to create new habits, let's create an environment for our youngsters where habitual, scared thinking can't even begin. It IS possible ... but we must begin teaching this from day one. In our house, my 3 year old daughter already repeats daily, "Never can't, daddy ... only CAN!"
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