“You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.”
— Marian Wright Edelman

When I attended a seminar one summer, I learned a very valuable lesson that I didn’t even realize I needed to learn. It was about staying in the game. Not taking myself out before I even gave something a go (thanks to that little voice in my head coming up with all the reasons I shouldn’t do something). I didn’t know that I did this, but I had to admit, once the concept was presented to me that I did indeed, at times, take myself out of the game before I even started playing.

For example, have you ever really wanted to do something you had never tried before, but chickened out even before giving it a real effort? Perhaps a dream job that you don’t apply for because “they wouldn’t hire you anyway” (your ego calling out to keep you safe). Or that solo in the choir they are auditioning for — “they always use the same person for the solos”. Perhaps they always use the same person because no one else bothers to even show up to audition!

Stay in the game. Maybe you won’t win all the time. But that’s ok. Just don’t take yourself out before “the tribe has spoken” (for all you Survivor fans). As the cliché goes, “You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.”