The. WHEN. not IF. challenge.

Goal Getter Gurl has been revamped! Yes, shiny and new! I decided I need change, so I made it! I hope you all like it!

I recently had an outing with my friend, Mary. Mary and I were talking about our current goals and what we are working towards. I began to speak with Mary about my business and what I want to do and where I'm at with getting it started. I believe I said something like, "If it's successful..." Mary said, "Not if, WHEN." Mary said to me, "I challenge you start using WHEN and not IF."

I thought a lot about that. Why am I already doubting the success of my own business? If this is something I have put a lot of passion for, have sacrificed for and BELIEVE in it myself, why would I say, "IF" it's successful? I should KNOW it will be successful and I will put all of my hard work into it to MAKE it successful. Since it is something I believe in and am creating the business because I do believe it's a valuable service that people should and NEED to have in their lives, why would I not say, "WHEN" it is successful? Why do I doubt my own success in vocabulary?

About a week after Mary said this to me and I had been meaning to write this post, I was looking at a blog post of Mary's. Mary herself has a new goal of doing a figure competition. She said, "If I do the figure competition..." Yes, even Mary herself used IF! I thought it only appropriate to remind Mary of what she taught me. I wrote her a comment saying, "Not if, WHEN. And when you are in the competition, I will be there to cheer you on!" Mary thanked me for reminding her of the, "WHEN not IF" rule. Yes, Mary, myself and everyone has times we forget about the words we are choosing. We all subconsciously build our doubt, fear and worry into our own conversations. 

These interactions made me ponder our human nature. Why do we place so much doubt into our own dreams and beliefs through our words? If we BELIEVE in it and KNOW that a business, or our goal, or our passions are truly valid and worthy and we are CONFIDENT we will achieve them, why all of the doubt?

Personally, I've decided to take on Mary's challenge. It will not longer be, "IF my business is successful, IF it gets up and running, IF I get funding," rather "WHEN my business is up, running and successful after receiving my funding." I choose my own success. Success in my words to be carried out in life. 

Readers: Who is in the WHEN not IF challenge with me? This week, (and continuing!!), I challenge each of you to change your IFs to WHENs.