In all situations in life, whether professional or private, we are constantly faced with unknown situations that we have to master. Some situations are easy to solve, and we already have initial ideas in our heads on how to implement them. But some situations scare us or seem almost impossible to solve.

The turtle (name: Victoria) in the picture probably maybe thinks at first that it will never make it up the stairs. But it gets easier with every step. The first step is the most difficult one as she has no experience. The second step becomes a little easier as the first failed attempts can be eliminated. She has to use a little less strength and time. With each step, the turtle acquires the knowledge of which steps work best. And so, the first difficult, almost unimaginable attempts become routine, and she climbs the stairs to the finish.

The turtle doesn’t even think about stopping or turning back. She doesn’t care if its first attempts look clumsy, stupid, or even wrong. She tries until the first step is completed. Then the next step, and so on.

A few words come to mind: brave, courageous, goal-oriented, persevering – respect!

In this case, the turtle has a lot of qualities compared to many of us. I like turtles because they are very likeable and entertaining with their wrinkled bodies and slow, unhurried nature. I’m often amazed at how far turtles have trudged when I’ve been distracted for a few minutes. I am impressed by their efficiency. They look stolid and slow, but achieve every goal they set themselves through steadfastness, perseverance, courage and overcoming obstacles. And faster than expected.

These are qualities that certainly lead to success in private and professional life.

Nevertheless, we often can’t bring ourselves to face situations or tasks that are unknown to us. The fear of the unknown sends us thoughts like:
– I can’t do it
– No one can solve it – it’s almost impossible
– I make a stupid image when I do it
– and so on.

The excuses go on and on. Instead of orientating ourselves to the turtle: don’t think about it for too long, just try it out until it works. What does the turtle care about the audience? She reached her goal. Those who follow her reach the finish line after it. Some people have copied how the turtle did it and imitated her. But the turtle is still the winner. She enjoys our respect for her pioneering achievement, for her perseverance, courage, inventiveness, and particularly the silence surrounding her victory. There is no praising, showing off and loudly announcing what she has achieved. The turtle does and enjoys what she has achieved. Neither an audience nor well-wishers or honors are important to her. The joy of success rests within the turtle.

This is also the reason why the turtle does not worry about whether the task is solvable, whether she could fail or even what assessment she might receive from others. Such thoughts are far away from turtles.

But these are turtles, no humans. We have a different mindset.

Yes, that is true. We have the opportunity to achieve a reasonable level of self-love and self-confidence through our mindset. To master challenges and thus develop ourselves further. This requires neither an audience nor well-wishers. It requires self-confidence and self-love. We achieve both through conscious action. By achieving a university degree, vocational training, competitions, a project, the birth of a child and much more. We usually receive recognition from others for these. But by acting consciously, we have gained the strength to tackle future challenges with confidence.

Turtles can tell you more about the path than rabbits.
It is better to stumble a little on new paths than to tread the same old ones.

With this in mind, I wish everyone many challenges and a conscious journey like a turtle 🙂