Cultivating Your Planted Roots to Thrive

Not everyone gets the chance to know their passion quickly.  Some rely on their experiences, while others get exposed to a variety of things at a very young age. But all experiences, good or bad, serve as preparation for our dreams.

As soon as we learn how to play on our own, choose what we like doing, and decide which clothes to wear, we're already planting our roots to thrive. As we grow, we learn how to cultivate these and help ourselves reach our goals.

Daniela Ruah, American-Portuguese actress from NCIS: Los Angeles, believes that everything we’ve been through since childhood helped planted our roots which needs tending to grow and bloom as we succeed.

Preparation

Almost everything significant in life needs preparation. And when it comes to our goals, more preparation yields better results. 

It may come in different forms, but it starts when our parents help us discover what we love doing. Whether that's through playing, or taking on different classes to learn something new, we get to learn ourselves more. Unconsciously, we're doing everything to prepare for what we are aiming for. 

 Looking up to certain people is a good way to prepare because it gives you an outline of what you could aim for, even if that is then adjusted to who you are as a person. - Daniela Ruah

Having someone to look up to, such as a role model, is a great start because we learn from their experiences. We might not see the challenges they had to overcome but reading their stories will help us see a better picture. But always remember that not everything that worked for them will apply to us. We must also learn to personalize what we get from them. 

Being prepared can also mean learning from other's mistakes. What brought them there? What helped them manage to get through? It's more important to note how they dealt with it especially when they have reached a certain level of success.

There's never a moment where you fully made it and that's it. And now everybody's going to come to you for work and maybe a phase, but it'll fade. So, learn from other people's experiences as well, and then be in person in classes and workshops, get experiences of collaborating with other people. - Daniela Ruah

It's not every day that we get to have a good deal. Just because we've been on the top once, doesn't mean we'll always be there. We still need to work on what we have; improve, develop and be better than what we've been before.

 The more hours you put into practicing, whether it's in a professional setting or a classroom, the less you'll have to think about it. - Daniela Ruah

Practice is also a form of preparation. It’s the most crucial part because as they say, practice makes perfect. Although perfect seems too unattainable, at least we’ll get closer to it through practice. 

Failing Forward

People have always placed the idea of failure in a negative light. That's why we try our best to avoid it. But, failing forward gives us a hint of progress and advancement; it's a stepping stone to move forward and up.

 If you think of failing as a staircase, every time you fail at something, all you're going to do is take a step up. - Daniela Ruah

Having this mindset helps us face failures and give ourselves a chance to make mistakes.  If we never fail, our foundation for success will be weak because we only know how to succeed at a certain point. Once we encounter a roadblock, we won't know what to do which can lead us to our downfall.

 It's always worth taking a shot and not being afraid of failure because if you don't go for it, you've already failed. - Daniela Ruah

Our failure starts once we avoid it because we don’t get the opportunities that come with it. Failure helps us become stranger, resilient, and kinder because we know how it feels to be in a certain position.

We should have a progressive forward mindset. Don’t fear failing because our focus is on the next game, not the failure itself.

Self-awareness

Another important thing to remember when we are cultivating our planted roots, is to be self-aware. We need to recognize our strengths and the things we need to work on.

We tend to make our successes smaller than they actually are because we don’t want others to think that we are bragging, or we think too highly of ourselves. We have to present ourselves as big as our achievement because self-awareness is not just knowing yourself, but also being okay with who you are, and not being embarrassed to share it with others.

There may be times when we think we know ourselves very well but every new experience helps us discover something new about ourselves. While taking in other's opinions about you is okay, learn how to filter information from outside sources and focus on how you want things to work out. After all, we know ourselves better than others.

As you get older, you also realize that you don't have to put up with certain things from outside people anymore. - Daniela Ruah

Discipline vs. Motivation

It is important to carry discipline and motivation as we work towards our goals. We should treat these as partners for they work in the absence of the other. 

Discipline has to take over even when you're not motivated. And if you're lucky enough, there are days where you feel both. - Daniela Ruah

It’s normal to wake up one day and not feel like doing anything. But we have to keep going to achieve our goals. When we find our passion, it’s easy to go for that thing because we’ll have that instant motivation, but not every part of it will make us feel like doing it all the time. So in the absence of motivation, discipline must kick in to help us thrive and keep moving.

There may be times when you feel like both your motivation and discipline abandoned you. So you have to keep in mind that it’s okay to sit back once in a while. Take a time out and give yourself a break, so when you go back, you’ll have a fresh mind and body that’ll keep you going.

In the event that both motivation and discipline haven't came back in a while, identify the why. Assess, map out your life and consider if you should be doing something else. Find out what you're truly passionate about. Because if you truly love what you are working for, either your motivation or discipline should kick and help you move.  

 There's a fine line between quitting and restructuring to find something different that you will succeed at. - Daniela Ruah

Once we learn how to use these aspects, it’ll be easy for us to thrive and achieve our goals.