Want to grow your business? Think about when  you last accepted a challenge you (gulp) weren’t sure you could actually complete?

Let me tell you about a time when I had a chance to say YES and then have that “oh crap! why did I say YES?!?” moment.

Click here  to watch the video on YouTube.

The Setting

I was in Orlando, Florida for a business event called Be The Change which included over 750 entrepreneurs from all around the world. We spent four solid days learning, sharing and discovering new ideas to build our businesses.

The entire experience was truly valuable – the content, meeting so many great attendees (and a few new clients) and listening to inspiring stories shared from the stage, during lunch, dinner, drinks and hallway conversations.

Learning, expanding my network and finding a few new clients was great… but I got the most value from a completely different experience.

The Challenge

About 4 weeks before the event started, I opened my email to find this challenge awaiting me:

Michelle, sign up for a 5K to support educating women in Africa on entrepreneurship.

Well, I’m all for educating women on entrepreneurship… but the 5K part? UGH.

It has been almost 10 YEARS since the last time I ran in any race-type setting. I had about 500 excuses that came up immediately…

… along with some (I felt) very legitimate fears like:

• OMG, what if I die on the course because it’s so friggin’ hot and humid?
• What will I wear? (dear lord, don’t make me wear SHORTS)
• What if I’m the LAST ONE to cross the finish line?
• What if everyone laughs at me?
• What if I get lost and they have to send a search party out for me?

And on and on…

(Yes, these are ACTUAL thoughts that ran through my head. Repeatedly… especially about the shorts.)

UGH!

After about 24 solid hours of making myself crazy with those thoughts, I had another thought:

But what if I do it?

It was like a little voice urging me to get past my fears and just say YES.

So in a moment of insanity, I did.

I signed up, paid my money and committed to the 5K.

Was I still scared? OH YEAH.

Was I worried I would fail? YEP.

But I did it anyway…

…and ended up running the course in 34:08. FAR from the last one done.

And no one laughed at me OR my shorts.

And I didn’t die.

And I wasn’t last (although it really wouldn’t have mattered – everyone was really supportive of the runners).

And no one had to send out a search party. Phew!

Business Lesson Learned

As I was running, I had 34 minutes and 8 seconds to think (I didn’t have enough breath to actually talk with anyone).

And I thought a LOT about how committing to this 5K was so much like committing to my business. Once I said YES to me, YES to the challenge and YES to moving past my fears everything else fell into place.

I couldn’t see the end of the race. I didn’t even know exactly where we were going to run – so I just took it one step at a time and looked for clues along the way.

As business owners, we all need to commit to things that may freak us out and make the crazy talk start in our heads.

But it’s amazing how simple it can be to put one foot in front of the other once a decision has been made. Step-by-step, making it towards the finish line.

And the little things that made me crazy and could have kept me stuck just fall away like magic….

…only when I get into action.

One small step at a time.

Your Challenge

What challenges have you been avoiding?

What commitments are you waiting to make?

What is one small step you can towards your goals?

Let me know – either email me at michelle@michellelevans.com or leave a comment below. I’d love to hear all about it!

Want support in your business journey? For a limited time, I’m offering a limited number of 30-minute Borrow my Brain Sessions. We can talk about what success means to YOU and the hidden opportunities in your business.