The value of challenge | Kimberly Saguilan | TEDxTustin
The speaker argues that confronting uncomfortable challenges, even when difficult, is essential for growth because it forces one to move past limiting self-talk and embrace vulnerability. She illustrates this through her personal journey, from trying K-pop with her daughter to becoming a professor and starting a business. The core takeaway is to "Jump... with compassion... Land with Grace... Learn to grow."
## Theses & Positions
- Facing challenges is necessary to overcome negative self-talk, which stops people from trying new things.
- Fear can lead to creating a limiting mentality, such as "I’m not good at it" or "I can’t do it."
- Personal development requires embracing repetition and consistently saying "yes to that jump."
- The process involves learning not just to jump, but also "how to land."
- True personal growth is realized when one accepts discomfort, acknowledges it, and learns from the process.
- The most significant growth happens when pursuing self-directed goals, as evidenced by the student participants facing the challenge of performing for an audience.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Godzilla emotions:** Negative, destructive emotional states that creep up and prevent action, similar to Godzilla destroying things.
- **Inner K-pop queen:** Metaphor for embracing a new, sometimes unexpected, passion or persona for personal development.
- **The Jump:** The act of deliberately attempting something new or challenging.
- **Landing:** The process of recovering and integrating the experience after the challenge, learning from the stumble or fall.
- **Root:** The process of growth that starts after consistent practice and persistence.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Challenge Confrontation:** Using difficult situations (e.g., learning choreography, public performance) to force behavioral and mental change.
- **Overcoming Self-Imposed Limits:** Actively challenging the mentality that one is "not good enough" to pursue goals.
- **The Cycle of Growth:** Jump $\rightarrow$ Experience (Struggle/Mistake) $\rightarrow$ Land/Reflect $\rightarrow$ Learn $\rightarrow$ Repeat/Improve.
- **Skill Development:** Improvement requires repetition, consistency, and prioritizing the activity.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Daughter's Inspiration:** Daughter, aged **13**, initially dedicated to water polo, desired to add K-pop to her routine.
- **Salsa Dancing:** Speaker and husband initially thought salsa dancing would be "easy."
- **Initial Realization:** Speaker realizes the initial perceived ease of dancing was incorrect when compared to K-pop counts/speed.
- **Professional Progression:** Sequential steps leading to current status: Becoming a parent $\rightarrow$ Becoming a teacher $\rightarrow$ Principal position $\rightarrow$ Professor at USC $\rightarrow$ Opening a consulting business.
- **Final Activity:** Students face the challenge of performing, moving from setup issues to the final performance.
## Examples & Cases
- **Daughter's K-pop Request:** Daughter challenged mother to participate in a K-pop class with her, noting she didn't want to do it alone.
- **Mother's Salsa vs. K-pop:** Speaker found the K-pop choreography counts and tempo much harder than salsa.
- **Personal Career Milestones:** Successful navigation of becoming a parent, starting as a teacher in a classroom with **35 students**, and attaining a principal role.
- **Student Performance:** Students undergoing the challenge of presenting/performing, facing issues like the "mic setup to the screen not working."
- **The Result of Challenge:** Speaker notes that all people who "actually created this are people in high school" facing the stage challenge.
## Numbers & Data
- Daughter's age: **13**.
- Water polo commitment: **Five days a week** for **three hours every day**.
- Initial classroom size: **35 students**.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Parachute:** Used metaphorically as a safety net for taking risks.
- **Microphone setup / Screen:** Mentioned as physical elements that failed during the student performance.
## References Cited
- None.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Staying away from a challenge ("let me stay away from it because I’m not good at it") is the alternative to attempting the challenge.
- The alternative to growth is stagnation, remaining trapped by fear and negative self-talk.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The difficulty of the challenge is acknowledged: it "feels uncomfortable."
- It is noted that the student performers are "not doing it for anyone else," but "for themselves."
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- **Primary Action:** Take the initial step by saying "Jump."
- **Support System:** The journey must be supported by practicing the three sequential affirmations: "Jump... With compassion," "Land... With Grace," and "Learn... To grow."
- **General Mandate:** Always seek opportunities that foster growth, even if they cause discomfort.
## Implications & Consequences
- The ability to embrace challenge leads to creating an experience that helps one "move forward and just love what they do."
- The ability to reflect on and process mistakes (the "landing") is what ultimately builds skill.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"When I say we love, you say challenge."*
- *"Gosh, Mommy, thanks for coming. Because guess what?" "You made me feel better about myself because you were terrible."*
- *"And those are the things that really get us down."*
- *"I’m not good at it."*
- *"It's all about repetitions, right? It's all about really getting to the point where I'm going to learn how to jump and say yes to that jump."*
- *"Why not? Why not say yes to that K-pop class?"*
- *"Jump... With compassion."*
- *"Land... With Grace."*
- *"Learn... To grow."*