On the corkboard smackdab in front o’ my face at my deskspace, I have a hot pink Post-It note with a mantra on it that says, “STOP PLAYING SMALL. You’ve got this.”

At first, I wasn’t 100% sure how much I’d need a mantra like that. I figured it felt a bit cliche; in the moments when you need it most, hearing “You got this!” from someone isn’t always the most genuinely encouraging or motivating phrase. You’re like, “yeah yeah…I got this and all, but HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO IT?!?”

In the moment, it’s easy to shrink.

We shrink – we cower back from our own potential.

Sometimes, it’s in fear of failing.

Other times, it’s in fear of actually succeeding. Because as much as it might suck to be living stagnant in our sameness, it’s scary to think we might actually make our dreams come true and live with the responsibility of making them work or seeing them fall apart before our very eyes.

But here’s the kicker. It’s impossible to grow and evolve and truly make it happen in the mindset that you’re too small and unworthy for your dreams.

It’s time to refuse to play small. Enter, today’s Monday Mantra:

It’s easy to dream. It’s easy to sit back and think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to do _____? Wouldn’t it be nice to live like _____? If only I had _____, then I’d be doing/making/rocking it!” But oftentimes, we actually have way more options in our toolkit to take a step – any step – in a direction pointed towards making those dreams and goals happen. We COULD settle for more. We COULD start small and get big quicker rather than later.

But instead of actively pursuing our dreams and goals, we let ourselves become distracted by worries and what-if’s and insecurities, or we take steps that don’t actually matter at all.

We don’t do the “hard” things that are required to get from Point A to Point B (even though we can do hard things). Because at the end of the day, sometimes it’s easier to complain about how we wish things were different than it is to buckle up and just get it done.

Here’s the thing: It feels easier in the moment to just wish for greatness, but it’s harder to swallow the failure pill than it is to just do the damn work from the start.

We play small, because it feels easier in the moment then playing big.

But you’re worth more than that. You’ve gotta refuse to play small. You’ve gotta dream so big that you have no choice but to start working on it ASAP, and you’ve gotta want it so bad that the work doesn’t scare you. 

Playing small feels comfortable. Playing small feels easier and more attainable, because it allows us to just go by in a very comfy cozy way, not really changing anything about our current lifestyles in pursuit of this new status or accomplishment. But nothing good ever happens in comfort zones – you can’t expect to live a new-and-improved job/income/status/LIFE if you aren’t willing to step outside of your current box, make some positive changes, experience growing pains, and uplevel to new heights.

You need to refuse to play small in order to open yourself up to being big.

Stop letting yourself cower in the corner of fear to pursue your real dreams. There could always be fear in life, but there could also always be hope. Choose hope, choose positivity, and choose to go after both intentionally.

Stop masking your inaction as busy-ness or broke-ness. If you want it badly enough, make the time and/or make the money to make it happen. When there’s a will, there’s a way.

Stop playing small. You deserve more than that. And you owe your greatness not only to yourself, but to all of the people you could be blessing in life by sharing it around. Point blank period.

Stop playing small. You’ve got this.

What will you refuse to play small on anymore? What step can you take this week to get closer to where you want to be?

Let’s get real. Drop a note or your current favorite mantra in the comments section below, and I’ll leave you back some further tidbit of goodness/inspiration/resource to get you closer in some way, shape, or form to where you want to be. We’re in this together.