Have you ever had a goal but don’t know where to get help or how you’re going to achieve it?”

I saw a film at the weekend, ‘Akellah the Spelling Bee,’ about an 11-year-old girl in South Los Angeles, who has a talent for spelling and wanted to enter the National Spelling Bee competition.

What was interesting was the similarity of the experiences and emotions of this 11-year-old girl to many adults in pursuit of their goals:

Feeling like giving up when it started to get hard
Wanting to be liked
Fear of failure – she was under pressure with expectations of the neighbourhood on her
Allowing yourself to receive help – her entire neighbourhood became her coach as they helped her with preparing for the competition
Doubting yourself – she had to memorise 5000 words and was fearful she could not remember them all
Being grateful and saying thank you – she said to her coach at the end of the competition, “ I could not have done this without you.”
Jealousy of others – initially her brother and friends were jealous of her ambitions.
Choosing failure because you feel someone else deserves it more than you – her main competitor had lost twice before and she felt he deserved to win
Failing to recognise that your success can be an inspiration to others – inspired by the Marianne Williamson – Return to Love poem – “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
These issues come up time and time again and can thwart successfully achieving our goals. I also noticed that her coach did not recognise his value – how much of a difference his coaching and techniques made to her motivations and commitment.

This is common where many professionals are unaware of their value – the difference they make for their clients – the time they can now save, using new systems, the increase in confidence and revenue, implementing new systems, having the courage to set boundaries.

Knowing your value changes the nature of your conversations and engagements, personally and professionally. You learn to say yes on your terms. It’s important to step back and measure that difference.

It was a moving film that confirms that we cannot achieve anything great on our own. And most of all, you need support to help you get there.