You have a lot more ability to “step up to the plate” than you realize.
Humans are incredibly resilient, and are capable of achieving amazing things when properly motivated.
On the flip side of that, we humans are incredibly lazy. We always look for shortcuts, and whenever we run into trouble, one of our first instincts is to blame others, at least in part.
I’m sure if you looked back into your history, you can find evidence of coming up with brilliant responses to problems when you were “put on the spot.”
When “failure” was not an option.
The great dichotomy of life is that we usually never reach the depth of our potential unless it is imposed on us from outside.
Only when we are forced to, do we dig deep and astound even ourselves.
But sometimes, you can “engineer” your own “up against the wall” scenario. This is not kid stuff, but it can be absolutely dynamite.
Cortez did this when he reached the New World. He purposely burned his ships once they landed, so his troops had no choice but to conquer. Retreat was not an option.
If you can put aside, for a moment, all the irreversible and terrible damage that Cortez and the Conquistadors did to the indigenous population, as a strategic move, it was absolutely brilliant.
Can you do the same?
Purposely remove the comforts of failure, and FORCE yourself to succeed?
Purposely put yourself in a “do or die” situation?
Scary stuff to be sure.
Fortune, as they say, favors the brave.