It is common for people to be scared, worried or nervous when taking up something new.  Thoughts of self doubt can creep into ones brain which can create restless nights lying in bed thinking about what may or may not come.  Whether people are taking up a new sport, instrument, transferring jobs or trekking down a path that they have never been down before, it is not uncommon for these feelings and thoughts to arise.  The question is what will you do if these thoughts attack your mental state of mind? 

Orrin Woodward is a self starter and he has instilled this principle into the lives of thousands through the Team's training system.  You will never accomplish anything great if you do not take action and decide to get going.  What you do not want to do is wait to get good, because you will never get good without starting to begin with.  Trial and error is the best way to learn anything.  “You don’t have to be great to get going, you have to get going to be great.”  This is yet another quote from Orrin Woodward that if followed closely, will lead you to your goals and dreams. 

My younger brother is in seventh grade and he had his first track meet the other day.  This is his first year running track and you could see that he was a bit nervous leading up to this event as he did not know what to expect.  I know exactly how he must have felt, I remember going through the same agony the night before my first track race.  I would lye in bed for hours and would not be able to sleep due to the racing thoughts shooting through my head.  The butterflies that were churning in my stomach were a whole other experience in itself.  My younger brother’s first race was the one mile.  Like his brothers and sisters before him, he toed up to the starting line and bolted off at the sound of the gun.  Never having run the one mile on track before he undoubtedly did not know what to expect or even know how to pace himself throughout the 4 laps he would endure.  He was cruising out in front with an impressive lead on the rest of the pack as he completed lap 2 of the race.  While passing the timekeepers and starting his third lap, he eyed down his coach on the sideline who was cheering for him, waved his arms in the air, raised his brow and asked “Am I supposed to go faster?”  His coach couldn’t help but laugh, along with everyone else in the stands and sidelines.  Here is a kid who has never run the mile in his life and he is crushing the field, and while running relaxed basically asks “Now what?  What do I do?”  This is perfectly normal for anyone in life who is in uncharted territory pursuing something new.  The key is to push on and not look back.  You cannot be afraid to fail.  If you are afraid to fail you will never have a victory.  If you are ever slow in starting and acting, jump off your seat and push the “GO” button.  We all have a self starter button and we are responsible for pushing it to get us moving in the right direction.  Who knows, you may surprise yourself like my brother did by discovering a talent you did not know existed.

The following speech was given by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris at the Sorbonne on April 23rd, 1910.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

As you have new opportunities arise in your life, put your pedal to the metal and hit them head on.  Only then will you truly be alive!!