It was nice and sunny last Thursday morning,

So rather than sit at my computer, I took our dog Lulu for a walk.

Because it was half term, the local park was busy with families.

In fact, it felt a little like summer!

(Quite a scary thought, really, considering global warming, but I can’t deny I enjoyed the sun on my face – and all that lovely vitamin D coursing through my veins!)

Anyway, I was amused to see a young Dad on the grass with his toddler – a headstrong little girl in cute dungarees and what seemed to be designer trainers.

Thing is, despite the expensive shoes, she couldn’t really walk yet.

But that didn’t stop her.

She would get onto her feet by putting both her hands on the ground, then pushing away to launch herself upright…. where she wobbled for a few seconds…

Then she titled her body forwards, scrunching up her little face with determination, and WENT FOR IT.

One step… two steps…. three steps….

(At this point her Dad’s mouth was wide open with glee and he was opening out his arms as if to catch her).

…four steps… five steps… and then….

BAM.

She was down.

Faceplanted on the grass.

It looked like she had been struck by lightning. For a few seconds, she didn’t move at all.

To be honest, it was a little disconcerting.

Then she placed her hands on the ground again, launched herself to her feet once more, wobbled around like before… and went back into another attempt.

The whole thing was really cute, rather touching, and totally hilarious.

But it also made me think…

We should all try and be more like that toddler!

Think about it….

That tiny girl could not walk. She didn’t know how to do it. And had zero experience of it in her short life.

Yet that didn’t stop her trying.

And, of course, she would eventually succeed.

After all, I’ve not met any adults who are crawling around on hands and knees because they never managed to learn how to walk.

Falling and failing was all part of the process.

This is something that adults seem to forget.

Not knowing how to do something… finding it difficult… and not having any experience of it…

These are all excuses we use to AVOID a new challenge.

But in life, NOTHING we do for the first time is something we’ve done before.

From walking… to talking…. to reading…. to counting…

In childhood we face hugely daunting challenges as we learn completely unfamiliar things that we have absolutely no idea how to do.

The same goes for adults when we want to achieve something major in our lives – particularly first time course creators!

We also face daunting challenges – whether that’s getting to grips with software…planning our content…. speaking in a video… selling our courses….

But unlike we oldies, kids have an inbuilt enthusiasm and determination.

They fall down and get up again… then fall down again… and get up again….

Eventually, they master it – and then they get onto something new.

That’s how we grow and develop into adults.

But as we get older, we lose that fearless drive to learn and adapt.

We become more set in our ways, and more averse to trying new things.

We think….

“I don’t know how to do it.”

“I’ve no experience.”

“I’ve not been taught this.”

“I am no good at this kind of thing.”

But that toddler in the park was in the same situation, and it didn’t stop her.

So why should it stop you?

Yes, of course, there will be some things you’ll be better at than others… and things you’ll enjoy more or less….

However you’re not locked into doing these things forever.

For instance, if you hate talking on camera, that’s ok, once you’ve created a bunch of videos you won’t have to do them over and over, week after week.

Or if you hate dealing with the tech side, that’s ok too, because once you’ve done it (using the simple drag and drop platforms I walk you through), then it is done for the foreseeable future.

To give you an example, when I first started I did my own Facebook ads, the process was totally unfamiliar to me, and I was not particularly a Facebook fan.

There were many false starts and errors in my first attempts. But that’s how I learned how these adverts work.

I didn’t love doing them, so once I knew how to use them to generate sales, I outsourced my Facebook advertising it to an agency so I could get on with other things.

That’s the beauty of running this kind of business – most of it you set up once, then let it do its thing online….

And all the stuff that you need to do regularly…. Well, you can outsource the tricky or boring bits.

However, you need to make that effort in the beginning and rise to the necessary challenges… not shy away from them…. even if you dislike doing something and feel it isn’t in your skillset.

When faced with something new, we all need to tap into our inner toddler and keep trying until we crack it.

It’s the only way to success!