Agile Challenge: Show up, Engage, and Silence your Inner Gremlin

Embrace the discomfort and challenge yourself

The unwelcome reality is that we have to challenge our minds in ways that are counterintuitive to our survival instinct, and that often means discomfort.  

Every coach understands this. 

We push clients beyond their comfort zone because we know it is in their best interest, even if they don’t like it.  That is how rapid growth occurs.

I followed my own advice and did something novel and painful.  I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Science says that active exercise is a brain booster, but not all exercise is optimal. Dance cardio is, however.  So…I went to a new class and tried to wrap my brain around some new routines.  Definitely a brain booster.

Having a great stretch afterwards, a kickboxing class started and I found myself intrigued.  Despite already having a good sweat, I stayed… and made a complete fool of myself. But, I stuck with it, and broke it down with as many memory hacks I could think of. 

I positioned myself behind a young woman who was clearly a pro at this, and surrounded by a group that were completely kicking a#$.  This did not help my self-esteem, but I told myself what I tell my clients.

Show up, engage, and silence your inner gremlin.  

What mattered is that I was there and learning.  Everyone else was concentrating on their performance, and if I screwed up…big deal.  Of course, this wasn’t completely true, as not everyone thinks that way and are there to show off their “better than you” skills.  This is particularly true in dance cardio and likely in other areas of the gym too, but that was their problem, right?  

That motivational talk gets really hard on the steep section of every learning curve, no matter what novel thing you are trying.  My inner gremlin was literally shouting in my head that I was a boxing buffoon.  I was getting completely humbled by kickboxing.  The movements felt awkward and the pace seemed insanely fast.  I was tempted to give up and quietly walk out to save myself from utter humiliation.

Sound familiar?

Taking a deep breath, I visualized punching that inner gremlin right in the mouth.  Instead of walking out with my tail between my legs, I reminded myself that performance only improves with practice.  I have started at ground zero thousands of times since I took my first breath, and it always got easier.  It would again if I continued to show up and engage.

I simplified the moves and started to catch on.  The energy was contagious, and the group connection was crazy good.  I looked up at one point and I was on the end of a line of boxers and we were all moving in sync.  It was AWESOME!

I made it to the end of class with my legs and arms shaking, but I would be back.  

It was a triple-great brain booster.  It was novel for me, yes, but it also had so many important components that you need for optimal brain exercise.  There were portions that required concentration, cross-body movement, interval exercises, core strength and teamwork.  Instead of trying something beneficial I had experience in, I went for an entirely new challenge.

Our cognitive bias to play it safe and save energy puts us squarely in our comfort zone.  Unless we understand the reasoning is based on ancient survival strategies, it can be easy to stagnate.  Adopting an agile intellect means understanding that growth does not occur without stretching ourselves into unknown territory.  We have to show up in new spaces, engage fully, and tell that inner gremlin to take a hike.  

Each of us have fallen a myriad of times as we transitioned as toddlers from crawling to walking.  What if we hadn’t tried?  What if we hadn’t gotten back up time and again after falling flat?  Toddlers have a great growth mindset, but somewhere along the way we lose that drive to take risks.  As a parent who has saved my own children from death’s door on a daily basis, especially my daredevil, I fully recognize that pairing a safety net and wisdom with risk is a wise idea.  But not to the point we cannot try novel ventures.

To get to the next milestone, we must recognize most fear for its true nature.  It is a warning that simply isn’t relevant anymore.  So…

Show up, engage, and silence your inner gremlin.