I've always been a sucker for a good quote. I think it's my love of words and my love of thinking, pondering, reflecting. I'm somewhat like the woman in this photo above; I think a lot, though usually while I'm on the move. I don't sit still much or stare at the setting sun that often. Really should work on that.
But I digress.
I've been meaning to do a series of posts centred around quotes I like for a while now. I've been secretly collecting every good one I find so I can share them with you, ponder them out loud (or in writing, as the case may be) and expand on what another human was thinking or feeling in their (often) single sentence quote.
To find good quotes I have to be willing to discard the rubbish.
There are plenty of people saying all sorts of things that are attention-grabbing, punchy, Twitter- Threads-length and highly repeatable. But it's rare that they're truly profound. At the very least I want thought-provoking. I want useful. I want something that's worth repeating.
So, now that I've got that preamble out of the way, let's look at this quote!
I like this quote. But I don't completely agree with it. Firstly, let's look at the bit I do agree with and explain why:
Who you think you're not definitely holds you, me, us back.
Why? Well, let's look at an example. Let's use growing an account on Hive since it's something I'm going to presume that is relevant to everyone here.
Let's say you're new to Hive and you think (or believe, which is just subsconsious thinking) you're "not a writer". Somewhere along the way, probably when you were really young, some big person told you that your writing was "not good enough" or when they read your stories they said something like, "I think you should stick to maths".
Maybe you submitted a story or an essay to your English teacher and it came back with a grade so low you felt ashamed. Maybe you saw one too many pieces of your beloved writing covered in red pen where you "did something wrong that needs fixing".
There are so many ways we can get beliefs or ideas about ourselves stuck in our head and they may not be true at all. But they are 100% going to hold us back, especially if we don't realise they're driving our behaviour and/or we don't realise we can change the things we subconsciously believe about ourselves.
Who do you think you're not?
Here are some examples of other things you might believe about yourself that are likely to hold you back when trying to grow your Hive account:
I'm not good with money.
(This makes it hard to do anything at all on Hive you imagine is related to money in any way. And there are a lot!)
I'm stupid.
(This makes it hard to learn new things and there's so much to learn when you're new to the world of all things blockchain).
I'm boring or I don't have anything valuable to say.
(This can also come in the form of "Why would anyone listen to me?" and obviously, if you believe these things about yourself it's hard to come up with ideas to create content on and it's hard to hit "publish" if you think no-one is going to read/listen to what you have to say).
Of course, I could go on. We all have so many things we believe about ourselves and who we are not (including what skills we think we don't have). And sometimes these things can have some truth to them:
For example: I believe I'm not a pilot. Since I've never flown a plane and never learned how this belief would be true. However, if I wanted to learn how to fly a plane and I started actually flying planes, with or without the help of an instructor, I damn sure better start believing and saying "I'm a pilot" or it's going to hold me back!
Get me? So if you want to grow your Hive account, you best start learning how to get good with money. If you want to grow your Hive account, you best start learning how to get good at writing or creating content that's valuable to the blockchain. If you want to grow your Hive account, you best start working out how you learn best and practise taking in new information.
And then, own it. Recognise that you're improving. Claim your new identity as a writer, a money manager, an avid student of all things Hive so that sh*t doesn't hold you back any longer.
Now, to the other part of this quote that I do not agree with, that who you think you are won't hold you back.
That pesky but important part of us called the "subconscious mind" that I mentioned earlier stores all the things we believe about ourselves, others and the world in general.
Some of the things we believe are helpful and some of the things we believe are downright unhelpful.
(Don't even get me started on the thing we believe that are dangerous for us and others. That's a whole other post for another day!)
If we come back to the quote at the top of this post it said this:
But what if who you think you are is actually unhelpful in you achieving the goal you've set for yourself?
Let's go back to our example of growing an account on Hive. If you have an identity, that is "who you think you are" is tied to the job you do but your goal is to grow your Hive account to the point where you can leave the job that demands way too many of your hours, takes you away from your kids and doesn't let you travel as much as you want, then what you believe about yourself ("I'm an Executive Manager" or whatever title you've afixed yourself to) is going to hold you back.
Here are some other things you might believe about yourself that could hold you back from growing your Hive account:
I'm a good Mum.
(This can be a helpful belief in a lot of ways but... if "being a good Mum" means you always drop what's important to you and always do what your society expects a 'good mother to do', well, then Hive is just going to keep getting dropped on your to-do list).
I'm rich compared to most of the world.
(This might be 100% true. In fact, if you live in a "1st world" country and have a place to live, a job or steady income source, food in the fridge, freezer and cupboard, reliable electricity and internet and clean running water, then yes, you're among the richest people on the planet.
But if you feel guilty about this rather than grateful and you believe that by making money on Hive you're somehow taking away from our fellow Hivers who don't have all these things then is is 100% going to get in the way of growing your account on Hive.
And just in case it's not yet clear to you how brilliant Hive is, the exact opposite of the above thinking is true because the more your account grows on Hive, the more you can support more and more of your fellow Hivers).
So, what do you think about who you are that is holding you back?
I'd love to know what answers you found within your own mind if you want to share in the comments. 👇
Caroline, aka ConsciousCat 🐈
Quote source: Chrome Momentum Extension
Photo sources: Person on swing, Person typing on computer, Person covering their face, Person jumping in celebration, Man in suit, thinking about things, People celebrating their growth together.
Oh, this is beautiful, we have to start letting go of things that could hold us back from growing. Fear and feeling not good enough to be here, I used to feel my writing skills weren't good enough before I joined hive, but I joined anyway.. Now, I think I faced my fear, and im determined to be better. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, love. Glad it was helpful. 😀🤗 !LUV !ALIVE
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You have explained your points with clear examples and I won't argue. !LOLZ.
In fact, the feeling stupid thing ........ had been a part of my thought process.
It is still there in a different shape..... I don’t feel stupid now, but like I don't have enough thoughts on this subject and the words I would write be short and not enough to be called a post 😳
About the quote I would say that the author of this quote might have taken things differently and stated in another perspective.
Just take your example of the mother. Is it really the thought of being a good mother that holds one back or the thought of not being a bad mother? 😉 Ooops! How mean it sounds.
I think the goal we set has a lot to do with our priorities and with our assumption of who we are. Later when we start our journey, then there come hiderences and what holds us back is the thinking who we are not
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Hi sister!
Some people do write very short posts and if they say something useful/valuable/thoughtful then I am okay with that!
My perspective: it could be both!
Agreed!
!LUV !PIZZA
(BTW, I thought of you while I was bushwalking the other day. I imagined you were with me and so you could be surrounded by trees). 🤗
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Oh.... I'm so happy this is the first thing I read this morning. "It's not who I think I am that holds me back, it's who I think I'm not." This has to be by far, my favourite quote since the year began. I knew I could write but I always thought I'm a bad story writer, until I wrote a story on Hive and I actually won a contest, that's when I dropped my fears.
I may be good in math, but I can't grasp anything money related on Hive to save my life. I'm currently working on that one.
I'm so happy you could share these wonderful things to us dear @consciouscat, thanks for all you do.✨🌺 !LUV
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Thanks for your kind words, @jhymi! And I'm glad it was helpful.
Yes, I'm sure you can learn how to be better at money stuff on Hive, especially if you're good at maths! :) Even if we're not naturally talented at something we can almost always learn to get better at it anyway.
!LUV
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Hive deserves this attention. You are already beyond greatness when u r conscious about this. .. enjoy reading ur blog
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!LUV
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Great article! I believe that who we think we are, and aren't, can both hold us back and be a helpful push. As in your example "I'm not a pilot." Ok, so don't get behind the steering wheel or whatever it's called on a plane. But "I'm not a pilot" is not the same as "I can never be a pilot" - realising what you're not may be the goad to becoming it. :)
GOLD!!! I !LUV this distinction. Thank you for pulling this out and reflecting it this way. So good.
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First, I must start off by saying this this right here is a wonderful article. Last year, I made
a conscious decision to write down quotes and things that stood out for me from the numerous motivational books I read. I made flash cards with them and they have been really helpful.
I had such an experience in highschool but in my case, my English teacher threw the book into the dustbin after promising to read it. That was my best story book at that time and that got me really heartbroken.
At that point, I said to myself " it's his loss and not mine". His action wasn't enough to quench my fire.
Thanks, Wongi 🙏💕
I'm SO glad that you had enough FIRE within you for this to be your reaction. Heck yes. 🙌
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We appreciate you taking the time, to either use #ThoughtfulDailyPost, or otherwise help this Community grow. So...
Thank you!!
Thanks! !PIZZA 🍕
This was very encouraging to read! I'm a newbie here and sometimes could feel overwhelmed on what to write - it turned out I was discouraged from my past experiences. But now I'm trying to be more vulnerable 😊
Love it. The more we can let go of past experiences and (gently) step into more vulnerability as we express ourselves the better.
Glad it helped. !LUV
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