I was speaking to a client a couple of weeks back and we were talking about certain things. I was sharing my observation of her growth and how much perseverance she’s putting into going after her dreams. In that conversation, we were also talking about how far I’ve come in my own journey in life and business over the last 11 years because it didn’t necessarily start off nice, warm, and fuzzy. There was definitely some adversity I had to persevere through. And somewhere in the conversation, she said, “Michael, I’m so proud of you.” And then I said, “Ilene, I’m proud of you and you need to be proud of yourself.”
Think about this for a moment. How many times have you told somebody on your team, maybe a family member, or maybe a child, “I’m so proud of you.” However, what I challenge and encourage you to do is take a look into yourself of where you can be proud of yourself.
It’s really interesting that a lot of times we’re going outside ourselves to be inspired. We read a book, we watch a movie, we go to a conference, we listen to a motivational speaker, all to be inspired or motivated. But is that long-lasting? Maybe, maybe not.
I would think that each and every one of you reading this today, somewhere along in your life, you had a situation, some adversity that you had to persevere through, that you didn’t think it was possible, that you were stuck, but you did whatever you needed to do to get through that adversity. And you came out the other side so much stronger. Now when you’re in it, it’s no fun. We’ve all been there. It’s a grind. But then later on, when you look back at that adversity and how you grew through it, that’s when you appreciate it.
I challenge and encourage all of you to do something that I’ve done myself. Every great adversity I had to go through where I persevered and eventually achieved my goals and was very happy with the result, I documented and wrote them down. These documentations go back decades. When you write these experiences down and have access to them. When you have a day that you don’t feel like you’re not on you’re a-game, or for whatever reason you’re struggling with something, you grab that composition book and you read those experiences you had in your life of when you were stuck and you felt there was no way you were going to get through it, but somehow you persevered and you pushed through. And when you look back at it, you’re like, “Damn, that’s good stuff.” And most importantly, it was you that did it. That is not only very valuable but also very powerful.
So, when you’re looking at someone else and saying, “I’m proud of you,” take a look at your own achievements, how much you have grown, how much perseverance you have exhibited in what you’ve gotten through in your life and where you are today. Look at that growth. Look in the mirror and say, “I’m proud of you!”
I hope this has been a little inspirational. I’m proud of anyone out there that has the discipline and perseverance to work each and every day to get a little bit better than they were the day before. Because when you compound those over days, weeks, months, and years, you’ll look back and say, “Damn, I’m really proud of you!”
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com