Monday Motivation: How Do We Confront Our "I Can't" List

Clarity is the first commandment in the 4 Queen Commandments system. To me, it is one of the most important commandments, as having true clarity with yourself is what creates a strong foundation on which your confidence can grow, and from which you can firmly stand behind your choices.

For this week's Monday Motivation, I wanted to talk about the importance of having true clarity with yourself, as sometimes you can be the biggest roadblock on your path to success.

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So my amazing friend Becky basically lives on what feels like Mount Olympus (lol). And what I love about her so much (right next to her warm personality, and bundles of emotional support) is how generous and open she can be about sharing her resources with me.

She has literally given me a key, a garage clicker (even though I don't have a car), and has a toothbrush with my name on it. I pretty much live there haha. And since going out to do my own thing, she has also been very supportive of me coming over whenever I need faster internet, or a space to shoot, or emotional support; whatever it is, her house is always open.

In the past, when I was lightly ballin' on a stable income, and because she lives up on Mount Olympus, I would always take an Uber or a Lyft to her place. But now that I'm hustling, and I have to be more careful about how I spend my money, I realized that in order to take Becky up on this gracious offer, I was going to have to do the unthinkable... I was going to have to climb Mount Olympus.

So #realtalk, I hate using the phrase "I can't." I don't like to believe that this is anything I can't do, and that at the of the day, what really determines whether or not I accomplish my goal is actually how badly did I want it.

So you should then understand the impact of what it meant for me to say that over a year ago I just couldn't climb up to Becky's house. In my mind, it was one of my very few, actual "can'ts."

So even before I quit my job, I have always been someone that doesn't like to spend money for the sake of spending it. And there were at least 2-3 times in which I attempted to walk up to Mount Olympus to save a few bucks.

But after the third time of basically being drenched in sweat, and feeling so awful about my physique, I just drew the line, and decided from there on out, I would just Uber/Lyft to her house.

A year later, however, with my bank account screaming "ain't nobody got money for that... especially you," on one warm day in February of 2018, I decided to embark on the perilous trek...

And of course my melodramatic-ass would find it to not be that bad, hahaha. I barely broke a sweat, and weirdly enough, I actually kind of enjoyed it as a lil' quick legs workout.

So what changed?

Sure, you could make the argument that I'm way more in shape now, after having done Fitness Genes, than I was last year. But even then, one of the biggest points that I wanted to highlight with this Monday Motivation is how much you can change in over a year, and how detrimental the word phrase "I can't" can be towards your growth as a person.

We all have an "I can't" list. A list of things that we have deemed untouchable, and no matter how hard we try we'll never be able to master it. For this week, I encourage you to dig back into your "I can't" list, and see how much time has passed for certain tasks. See what tasks you'd be willing to give another shot to measure your growth as a person. And know that even if it's still hard for you now, it's not an "I can't"; it's either an "I'll try it later" or "I don't want it bad enough". But you should always know that you have the power to get and accomplish whatever it is that you want.