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You Must Challenge Yourself!

Guest post by: JoAnn Youngblood King

Article Overview: It is extremely important to challenge yourself! You can do more than you realize!

You Must Challenge Yourself!

Do you consider yourself successful right now? There is no reason why you shouldn't be. I hope you are really aware of the potential you have for success. Please know that you can accomplish whatever it is you set out to do. You are capable of more than you realize! You must challenge yourself!

In my book, The Next Top Success Story, I mention an experience I had many years ago, when I marched in a New York City Parade playing clarinet. I really wanted to do it but, because of the length of the parade, I truly didn't believe that I would be able to make it. After receiving so much encouragement and guidance, I challenged myself and was able to march those 40 blocks without stopping. I felt such a tremendous feeling of accomplishment! A year later, I marched in another parade playing my saxophone in 100 degree weather. This time, I had no feeling of doubt. I believed that I would make it through the parade regardless of the heat and I did! It has been experiences like these in my life that have made me realize that most of the limits we believe we have are ones we place on ourselves.

I have accomplished many things in my life because I made a choice to believe what I heard about human potential and then took action based on that belief. Please realize that challenging yourself a little everyday will help you to see the great potential that exits within your life. Decide on a goal you would like to accomplish. Take one action step everyday towards your goal. Get whatever help you need! Challenge yourself to move beyond any obstacles that may come up in the process.

"If we do not rise to the challenge of our unique capacity to shape our lives, to seek the kinds of growth that we find individually fulfilling, then we can have no security: we will live in a world of sham, in which our selves are determined by the will of others, in which we will be constantly buffeted and increasingly isolated by the changes round us." -- Nena O'Neil

"There is no challenge more challenging than the challenge to improve yourself." -- Michael F. Staley

"Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it." - Arthur Ashe

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory." -- George S. Patton

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Article Tags: challenges, encouragment, guidance, human potential, perseverance, success



Related Forum Posts
Rockin'! - I think the posts on here are really stimulating with a wide range of topics that will suit most people. Personally, I can't comment on all the topics as, well, to be truthful, I don't know much about some of the things. What I have found is that the group is generative with ideas and solutions and above all - and this is vital in a forum - supportive of each other without being negative about the actions of others. Challenge is one thing, the comments you sometimes read on some forums to tear the guts out of people is unhelpful. The community here makes it a good place. Thank you.
Self Development Tips - I find this old article about self development and very liked it. I think here a lot practical rules! As long as you are still alive, you are capable of changing and growing. You can do anything you want to do, be anything you want to be. Listen to some positive thoughts on how to continue your self development and then apply them in your own life. 1. Accept personal responsibility for your own growth; no one can do it for you. What you do today will determine your readiness for tomorrow. 2. Take time every day to do something for yourself. 3. Take classes to stay current in your field of expertise. The world is changing rapidly and you must learn to manage change to avoid obsolescence. The way Will Rogers put this was that "Even if you are on the right track, if you just sit there you will get run over." 4. Listen to cassette tapes on personal and professional growth topics. 5. Never look back to the past - you only can control your actions in this instant, so what should you be doing right now? 6. Learn from "other people's experience" rather then having to try everything for yourself. It shortens the time needed to learn. 7. Dealing with a problem helps you learn patience and strengthens your management skills; it is good mental exercise. 8. Analyze, in a non-judgmental way, mistakes in which you were involved. It will help you to prevent these in the future. 9. Reward yourself when you catch yourself working on the most important priorities. 10. Never say something can't or won't be done. Keep looking for ways to do it. 11. After attending a seminar, report to your boss or other people in your organization, what the most important things are that you learned from the program. 12. Eliminate one time waster a week from your life. 13. Read a minimum of one chapter of a book a day. 14. Read a minimum of one book a month. 15. Be hungry for what life has to offer and go for it. 16. Decide what you really desire to do - then do it. 17. When you have the option of reading a book or listening to the cassette tape version of the program, listen to the tape. It will be more to the point and can be done while you are driving, jogging/walking, or getting other routine things done. 18. Develop a "master mind" group of four or five people with whom you can openly discuss ideas in a nonjudgmental way. 19. Develop yourself as a resource for others by networking. Find out who does what, when, and for whom. You may find excellent contacts for your future needs and for the needs of others you meet. 20. Work for balance in your life goals: family, financial, professional, social, spiritual, recreational. 21. Always keep your goals in mind as you start a new activity. 22. If you do a lot of work with the calculator, run the machine with the hand you don't use for writing. 23. Do not be afraid of failing at something. You can learn and change as a result of it. 24. The most difficult projects are opportunities for your biggest successes just as the most difficult people could become your strongest allies. 25. Put up pictures of your dreams and goals where you will see them frequently. They will remind you and aid you in focusing and visualizing your goal. 26. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Learn from those people who get more done than you do. Perhaps you can find a way to improve what you are doing. 27. Find a nonjudgmental mentor who will help you by providing feedback, suggestions, challenges and support. 28. Identify some "models" and observe their style and actions. Do not copy them but learn from their experiences. 29. Learn from the errors you see others make as well as from their successes. 30. Fill your mind with positive ideas, thoughts and inspirations and you will have no room left for the negative. 31. Trade jobs with someone so you gain additional experience. 32. Ask for and accept lateral moves in the organization so you learn more about the entire operation. 33. Do more than your "self doubts" say you can. 34. Have confidence that you can get through and learn from anything and everything you experience. 35. Reward yourself with a treat when you have completed a learning objective. 36. Keep a daily journal, recording your thoughts, ideas, feelings and personal growth progress. 37. Ask questions, listen, then ask more questions. You will learn as well as help others learn. 38. Ask yourself, "How can I manipulate my fate?" 39. Do things with someone you respect. They will be supportive of you and you will learn from interacting with them. 40. Seek new information on projects for which you have responsibility. Look for new "ah ha" ideas all the time. 41. Challenge yourself to learn something new every day. 42. Remain flexible and constantly adaptable. 43. Be open to others and sincerely interested in them. You can learn from everyone you meet. 44. Mentally rehearse a new skill. Your subconscious does not know the difference between actual practice and mental rehearsal. 45. Keep a record of what you accomplished the previous day(s)/week. If you did not accomplish as much as you wanted, it gives you extra incentive to do better in the next time period. 46. Make notes of the questions you want answered. Then as the answers come to you, jot them down next to the question. 47. Work on overcoming personal, nonproductive habits; for example: overeating, smoking, gossip. 48. Keep an "Idea File" ring binder or notebook in which you record all new ideas. At least once a week in a standing appointment with yourself, review your ideas. Very interesting to know other practical self development tips.
Julia Hartz of Eventbrite.com - Julia Hartz December 16th, 2008 Co-Founder & President Eventbrite.com As gigs go, Julia Hartz had a good one. While the rest of her twenty-something peers were merely watching MTV, Julia was working for the network in series development, producing wildly popular shows such as Jackass, Real World and Sorority Life. After two years there she took a job at FX. Nip Tuck, The Shield, Rescue Me-Julia was right in the thick of the hottest shows on TV. But in a dramatic move that would make her fictional characters proud, Julia gave it all up for a man. At least it looked that way on the surface. Actually she always knew working in LA would be short-lived so when her long-distance boyfriend Kevin proposed, she headed to San Francisco. And the TV-like saga continued. Not knowing whether they could live together, let alone work together, Julia and Kevin nonetheless launched Eventbrite, a do-it-yourself online event management and ticketing service, in 2005. Their relationship and their company thrived. Today Julia and Kevin are married, have a ten month old daughter, and can proudly say that though Eventbrite began as a small start-up, it has transacted millions of tickets to date. Talk about happily ever after. What we learned from Julia: In the start-up environment you’re wearing many hats. But if you want to grow, you’ve got to delegate. Hire good people and trust them to do their jobs. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who can relinquish well. Learning the Ropes Landing an internship at MTV was exciting. But being hired full time was even more so. There I was at 22 working on Jackass. It was amazing. When I moved to FX I was the youngest member and the only woman on a five-person executive team working on shows like Nip Tuck and The Shield. It was like a start-up; we all wore different hats. I learned to speak up and go with my gut. I built a foundation of knowledge and confidence that I still rely on today. Heading Home I left FX and headed to northern California to be with my fiancé Kevin. What a cliché. But I always knew FX would be short-lived. Yes I loved the creative process and meeting lots of new people but I never intended to stay in LA. I moved to San Francisco in the fall of 2005 to start Eventbrite with Kevin. We laugh about it now but at the time this was a big risk. We went from a long-distance relationship to living and working together. We had no idea how this dynamic would play out. Obviously it worked. We’re married and have a ten-month old. Born to Bootstrap I’m a planner. Plans make me happy. But when we started Eventbrite I had to give that up. I learned to take it one month at a time which was a huge growing experience for me. It was just the two of us in a conference room using saw horses and slabs of wood for desks. Boy were we bootstrapping it. All of our income went back into the business. We were our own bosses so we could do that. Start-Up Central We were occupying a small section of a much larger space that our land lord told us we could use. We filled it with other start-ups. At one point there were ten start-ups in there. The energy was amazing. This was where we built our company. Starting Out Strong We wanted to build a strong foundation from the very beginning so we focused on providing a great product. We figured either we would end up with the eBay of online ticketing or just a great small family business. Either way we weren’t going to skimp. We weren’t taking salaries and we didn’t use outside funding. We were incredibly capital-efficient. Our only hire was a CTO who lived in France. We focused on our product and growing the business during the day in the United States while he slept, and he built the technology while we slept. You can’t get more efficient than that. The Customer Challenge Our biggest challenge was customer acquisition because it wasn’t readily obvious how we would market our product. But because we provided world-class customer service, word of mouth was huge. We didn’t find search engine marketing to be very helpful in the beginning because we were too small for it to be effective. It’s kind of a catch-22. We had to grow first before we could use a tool that was supposed to help us grow. Balancing Business and Baby As a mother and a business owner I do get anxious now and then because I care so passionately about both roles. But I work from home sometimes so I can be with my daughter. I love to watch her climb out of her crib and make a break for it. We spend our down-time as a family. And Kevin and I have Wednesday date nights. Sometimes we’re practically sleeping in our salads but this time is sacred. This Featured Lady was profiled by Ladies Who Launch Associate Editor Susie Lacey.


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