STOP LETTING
“I DON’T KNOWS”
HOLD YOU BACK

I needed a new website. Feeling overwhelmed I didn’t know where to start. My website needed to have a distinct look and specific features. My particular style was unique and I knew from past experience that I was a hard customer to please. I began shopping around for web designers but couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. I kept coming back to the same thought: “I wish I could just do it myself, but I don’t know how.” 

The “I don’t know” is a thought we have more often than we should. But that is it—it is just a thought. When we say or think “I don’t know,” we stop ourselves in our tracks. We have no action, no progress, and no result. 

What do you want for dinner? 

I don’t know. 

When are you going to finish your master’s degree? 

I don’t know. 

When will you write your book?

I don’t know. 

The result of all these scenarios is always the same: nothing happens. 

So how do we change? First, take “I don’t know” out of your vocabulary.  Don’t think it or say it. We have to train our brain so we can get different results. Come up with a new thought that will serve you better. 

For example: 

When are you going to finish your master’s degree? 

I plan to meet with a counselor and get a schedule figured out. My goal is to get it done within the next 18 months. 

Changing our thoughts from “I don’t know” to “I will figure it out,” helps us progress. Our beliefs start to change about ourselves. We gain confidence because instead of stagnating, we move forward. We might not always get the results we wanted, but we progress and learn and that is ultimately what we want. The more we practice these thoughts, the less room we have for negative thoughts and self-doubt. We realize our grand capabilities and start working towards our goals.

I finally accepted that if I wanted my website to be a certain way, I would have to do it myself. Instantly I removed the “I don’t know” from my thoughts and changed it to, “I am smart; I can learn how to build a website.” And that is exactly what I did. I set a daily goal for myself. The goal was to spend one hour every day either learning how to build a website, working on my website, or finding someone to help me on my website. Some days I would spend the entire hour trying to change the font! The whole process took much longer than anticipated, but guess what? I built my website. 

Once I changed my thoughts, I was able to act and get the results I wanted. So often we think we aren’t capable, but in reality, those are just our thoughts. When we learn to control our thoughts and our minds, we open ourselves to our full potential. We can do anything we want to do if it is important enough to us. Next time you are tempted to say, “I don’t know,” STOP!  Change your thoughts because you DO know!