I've Never Done That Before

“I’ve never done that before” is not a reason to stop.

If you want a life bigger than the one you have, you will be doing things you haven’t done. That is the point. You are learning, growing, and creating something new.

Yet we often use not having done something as an explanation for why we can’t do it, don’t know how, or don’t feel confident.

In Episode 347, I challenged that thought. Your past success doesn’t create your future success. Your current thinking affects the feelings, actions, and results you create next.

The past keeps creating more of the same

We tend to look backward to decide who we are and what we can do. We use past experience to make sense of the present and define the future.

When that is your only reference point, you keep recreating the same version of yourself.

If you only do what you already know how to do, you are limited to what you have done before. You may not even like the life you are repeating, but it feels familiar.

You tell yourself this is what you know, so this is what you should do.

I want you to become familiar with your future vision instead. Let it be a reference point for the action you take now.

There will be things worth repeating in your life. You can enjoy those and also pursue things beyond your current reach.

Confidence comes from a thought

You may believe confidence requires having done something successfully.

Doing it before may make it easier to think a confident thought. But the past action itself isn’t creating the confidence. The thought you have now is.

You can think a thought that creates confidence about something you haven’t done. That is how people begin creating new things.

Our thoughts create feelings, which drive actions and results. If you think you need past evidence before you can feel confident, you limit what you are willing to attempt.

You can choose thoughts about your desire, your capacity to learn, and the future you want to create.

Not knowing how yet is expected when you are living toward a future you haven’t lived.

Learn by doing and failing

We learn new things through attempts. We try, fall, try again, and eventually figure something out.

Waiting until you have completely figured it out before you act misses that process. Action is how you learn.

Learning as you go develops failure tolerance. The more willing you are to experience failure, the more opportunities you have to try, take risks, and succeed.

I am not promising that failure will feel good. It can feel terrible. That is why understanding the Model and learning to process emotion matter.

You need to be able to feel the discomfort rather than use it as a reason to retreat to everything you already know.

When you attempt something new as the unique human you are, you create an experience that didn’t exist before. You bring yourself into contact with something new and generate ideas from that combination.

Repeating only what already exists doesn’t create that possibility.

Your future can fuel the present

Imagine a river flowing forward and trying to turn back upstream so it can flow where it has already been. That is how it can feel when we insist on using the past to direct every new possibility.

I want you to know your future well enough that you can take action from it.

You can envision a result without knowing every step to it. Creating the possibility in your mind gives you something to move toward.

Have you ever considered doing something you hadn’t considered before, then noticed ideas and pieces beginning to come together? The possibility first became available in your thinking.

What haven’t you allowed yourself to consider?

You don’t have to announce the dream to anyone. You can think about it privately and let the vision begin creating desire, excitement, and confidence.

Ask a question that opens the door

Instead of ending with “I’ve never done that,” ask what would happen if you could.

What if you pursued this dream? What possibility do you want to create? What unique skills could you bring?

Those questions direct your brain toward a future rather than a closed door in the past.

Look at the result you genuinely want. If you were willing to pursue it with tenacity, what would you choose?

Let yourself dream something you don’t know how to achieve. Then let the thought create an emotion that fuels an attempt.

That is different from waiting for your past to approve the goal. Your past is done. It doesn’t know everything that is possible for you.

Catch the sentence before it stops you

Listen for the familiar phrases: you haven’t done it, you haven’t been able to do it, or this is how you have always done it.

Are they directing you toward the life you want, or helping you repeat the life you already have?

If you want an extraordinary result, not having done it is part of the work. Let that be a reason to learn rather than a reason to quit.

Use your future as an emotional tool. Let the vision energize you in this present moment.

You will still need to take action, feel discomfort, fail, learn, and try again. The vision doesn’t replace that. It gives you fuel to do it.

Create the possibility in your mind. Feel the energy it gives you. Then go do something you have never done before.