The shift. Ironically, we quit playing small by starting small.

I once read an article that said the best ideas are a switch, not a dial. They don’t just turn the volume up on what we were already thinking. They find a way to flip that very thinking on its head.

The most common accepted wisdom is that if we want to Quit Playing Small, we have to become the kind of people who always GO BIG. Just leap without looking and the net will appear.

And don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the Go Big moment. From getting into Yale for law school to publishing my first book to a coast-to-coast speaking tour. I have spent years chasing down some very BIG dreams.

But do you want to know what happened the very next day, the day after “our hero gets everything they ever wanted”?

I went right back to doubting myself and playing small.

That’s because all those things felt like something that had happened to me…but they didn’t sink down into the very core of who I am. They didn’t have a chance to become part of my day-to-day identity.

Like a compass used for navigation, these small shifts of course correction really make a big difference in where you end up. In other words, it’s not what we do one day, but what we do every day that changes our entire trajectory and our uphill climb the most.

And the shifts that have changed me the most in my life were when I focused more on who I was becoming than what I was achieving.

Our surprisingly simple shift, then, is this: We think to quit playing small we have to always GO BIG, but ironically, some of the most important work we’ll do to quit playing small…is actually by STARTING small.

Let’s take a look at how that plays out with self-sabotaging.

The Shift: Self-sabotaging has told you to shrink yourself back into the tiny containers you belong in because you can’t be trusted with more.

Instead, set small but important commitments to yourself (and actually keep them!) to stretch your capacity for self- trust and show yourself there is a grown-up in the room who can be trusted.

That grown-up is you.

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities” Luke 16:10

*For deeper reflection, listen to Luke 16 today!

Enjoy our interview with Mary today!