Try New Things : LT's Blog

“Do one thing every day that scares you” Eleanor Roosevelt

For Father’s Day this year my daughter had a great idea to make dad a gift. She is 21 so hand made gifts have not happened at the Thompson household in quite a while and since she is beyond the years of drawing faces on golf balls and such, she thought it would be awesome to make him a grill prep table. She was right. It would be awesome. He never has enough workspace when he’s out there grilling and he always must run in and out balancing way to much in his hands.

But, how do you make a table? I’ve been in the furniture industry for 27 years, but I sell the stuff I don’t make it. No clue on how to make a table. You would think we could find the perfect table on YouTube. There were a lot of good tables. They just weren’t great. We were going to have to do this on our own or just skip it and think of something else. We’ve never built anything before. Zero experience.

Here’s How We Did It

Several trips to hardware stores

– so much math it made our heads hurt

– we came home with the supplies

– and then we went back for more

– and then maybe there was a third trip.

The table is built. The table is not good. It is not great. It is fricken’ awesome. This table rocks – and I know tables. We crushed it! There were a lot of high fives along the way as we couldn’t believe what we just accomplished. None was as great as when the entire box came together to form the table. We were so worried that we could get 2 or 3 sides together, but our dowels wouldn’t line up and that the last piece wouldn’t go in. It did, and did I mention that its fricken’ awesome?

Whether you win or you lose find the lesson. We were lucky and won this time. The lesson you must try new things. You can do the same things and have an ordinary life, or you can stretch yourself to try new things and have an extraordinary life. How do you know what you are capable of if you do not try? Sure, we could have bought dad another tie and he would have loved that it came from us, but this table . . .wow!

“Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?” –Michelle Obama

“Life is worthwhile if you try. It doesn’t mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do, if you just try.” –Jim Rohn

“The hallmark of successful people is that they are always stretching themselves to learn new things.” –Carol S. Dweck

Encourage Your Team To Try New Things

The same goes for teams that you lead. Although the consequence of not doing new things may be more severe than just being ordinary. With everything going on in the world right now, COVID and powerful voices for change new competitors in the marketplace, if you don’t lead your team into new ways of doing things it could be the end. My daughter – yep same daughter – is working on a paper right now on a cable company. Their revenue has declined the last 11 quarters. Many consumers are trying new things, but what is the company trying that is new? I don’t know how they’ve survived this long on that trajectory, but one thing is for certain if you keep declining you will eventually get to zero.

What keeps us from trying new things? Ego, the mindset that we’ve always done it this way so it must always be done this way, the appeal to tradition, legacy, stinking thinking, complacency, and let’s not forget our good old comfort zone. Nothing good happens there. Nothing!

Here Are a Few Benefits of Trying New Things

New experiences release dopamine. The happy drug. Whether we are talking about you the leader or the team you lead you would have to agree that we could all use a little more.

Trying new things stimulates creativity. Another desirable trait in the workforce.

Tik Tok bored in the house. We’ve all seen a million renditions. Maybe it’s bored in the office. Spicing things up with newness can help prevent you from hitting the wall. That new activity can be just what you need to boost your energy level and keep you inspired.

Attempting something new forces you to grow. Fear is a big reason we don’t try new things and overcoming that fear and taking action opens us for the opportunities for learning and growth.

Dopamine, creativity, energy, inspiration, learning and growth – all great reasons to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. Don’t wait. Do it now.