When was the last time you took a test?
Yesterday?
Last year?
During your last eye appointment? (U R B A F)
Once you get to a certain point in life, you can stop taking tests.
But don’t.
Even if it’s the spring of your senior year of high school, and you have already gotten into your first-choice college. (Sorry, that was meant for my son.)
One of the great ways to live a full, adventurous and successful life is to regularly test yourself.
Test your mind, your body, your resolve, your endurance, your focus and your dedication.
Test your willpower. And test your won’tpower. (I think I just made up a word with a contraction in it!)
It’s not hard to avoid testing yourself. You can stay within your natural bounds. You can refuse to push against your outer limits. You can easily live a life of comfort, without stress, tests, or growth. And it would be boring and sad.
When you stop testing yourself, you replace growth with shrinkage. And nobody wants shrinkage.
While you are still able, test yourself often.
Take on hard challenges.
Take on physical challenges.
Get certified in a new skill.
Or licensed in a new practice.
Sign up for a competition in anything.
Try the ski run that is a degree above your comfort level.
Or a cold plunge that is a degree below your comfort level.
Start a business.
Try to sell things.
Join Fight Club. (But don’t talk about it!)
Write a book. Or screenplay. Or a non-screen play.
Learn a new language with tests involved to prove what you are learning. (Capiche?)
By testing yourself, you are forcing learning, skill development, and growth.
You are pushing yourself to become a better, stronger, smarter version of yourself.
You are elevating your game. Like Milton Bradley, on an elevator.
And you are expanding and improving as an organism.
Testing…Testing…
Aside from parenting, nothing has forced my growth like starting a business. (The Weaponry.) The way that entrepreneurship tests you, you quickly realize that you are the greatest limiter of your company’s success. And if you want to grow the business, you have to grow and learn new and better skills too.
I also commit to an annual Misogi Challenge. These are difficult personal challenges with a high likelihood of failure. You create them to test your limits and push yourself and to spur confidence-boosting growth.
In 2020, I challenged myself to write a book during the COVID lockdown. And I did it. Which taught me how much I could accomplish when focused on a meaningful personal challenge.
The key to my happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem is directly related to the fact that I keep taking tests. I keep pushing myself. And I am learning, growing and expanding my skills, abilities and knowledge. And in the process, I am strengthening my character, values, resolve, grit and confidence.
Key Takeaway
If you want to maximize your own happiness, keep pushing yourself, testing yourself and forcing your own growth. It’s the best way to the best you. And the best way to experience your best life.
Adam Albrecht Blog 