This is the kind of mantra I need right now. I wasn’t familiar with Marie Forleo before listening to her book Everything Is Figureoutable (tagline: “How one simple belief can help us overcome any obstacle and create unstoppable success”). Marie is a life coach, motivational speaker, and runs a web TV show MarieTV. My friend Jenna (who runs Mental Wealth & Wellness) emphatically recommended this book so I bit the bullet and used an Audible credit instead of waiting 13 weeks to get in from the library.
The gist you can infer from the title: adopt the mindset that everything can be figured out. That you can figure it out. It’s an action-oriented approach to challenges and goals and life. As she introduces the concept, the line itself comes from Marie’s mother who when Marie asked (after catching her mom fixing a radio) how she knew how to do so many different things that she’d never done before without anyone showing her how to do it:
She put down her screwdriver, turned to me, and said, “Don’t be silly, Ree. Nothing in life is that complicated. You can do whatever you set your mind to if you just roll up your sleeves, get in there, and do it. Everything is figureoutable.
My own version of this is “Nothing is too big for you” — a compliment and piece of advice I received nearly three years ago that has stuck with me and pushed me forward.
When I’ve gotten stuck it’s been on the thought “but I don’t know how” — yet everything that’s pushed me forward, especially in my career, has been finding out how. Whether it’s relying on my own common sense judgment calls, reaching out to people who have done it, educating myself with formal certifications, or googling. So much googling. And so much doing new things and making mistakes and getting better the next time.
There’s this scary space ahead of me right now where I want to grow but also don’t know exactly how to do the things. At the same time, we’re at this exciting time at work with fast growth and high change that is requiring a lot of flexibility and problem solving and a rigorous pace of learning. I say exciting because I am addicted to that kind of energy, but it can also feel overwhelming and set my imposter syndrome to high-alert.
But everything is figureouable. Everything is figureoutable. Everything is figureoutable.
The most powerful words in the universe are the words you say to yourself.
Marie Forleo
With Love,
Natalie