I believe it’s a revolution that has been catching on strong in the last few years, but it would be people treating their health as their biggest asset. Often times I think people are too focused on putting importance on the wrong things; having a great career and making money are important but investing in your health early on will pay dividends for the rest of your life. If you don’t have your health, then nothing else can be accomplished.
Starting something new is scary. Learning to believe in yourself can be a critical precursor to starting a new initiative. Why is it so important to learn to believe in yourself? How can someone work on gaining these skills? In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders/owners, authors, writers, coaches, medical professionals, teachers, to share empowering insights about “How To Learn To Believe In Yourself.”
Alana was born and raised in sunny Colorado. After attending the University of Wisconsin, Alana moved to NYC to work in finance. In NYC, Alana discovered Rumble and was in love at first punch. Since her first class in 2018, she has continued to train with various boxing coaches. Through the pandemic, Alana realized her true calling and said goodbye to finance and hello to fitness. Alana truly believes there is no better workout for the mind and body then the Rumble workout, and she can’t wait to have you in the studio throwing the 6 with her! When she’s not at Rumble you can find Alana skiing, hiking, or searching the best places to eat in Denver! Alana’s favorite quote is “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” -Jim Rohn
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory? A brief paragraph is fine.
I grew up in Denver, Colorado with my parents and two older brothers. I was always very athletic growing up, playing soccer, lacrosse, running track and cross country. After high school I went to the University of Wisconsin, Madison where I studied Finance and moved to NYC shortly after graduation and got a job in finance.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career and then take the leap to start something else?
My Dad has been my biggest inspiration to take the leap in my career and pursue what I loved doing. He owns his own business, so I get my entrepreneurial spirit from him. He took a big risk opening his own business shortly after I was born and is very successful at what he does, so that gave me a lot of courage to take my own risk and leave my finance job in NYC to open up a Rumble studio.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Figuring out when to contact people for a sales call. I once called someone at 6 a.m. because I was so excited and eager to get started and I got screamed at. Needless to say, I will never make that mistake again.
I think this was an important mistake to make because it makes you realize that people work differently than you, and it’s crucial to stay flexible in an ever-changing environment and way of going about things.
What are some of the most exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
We’re working on launching new classes, new music, and partnering with charities in our community — all for our Rumble members and our community!
Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. This will be intuitive to you but it will be helpful to spell this out directly. Can you help explain a few reasons why it is so important to believe in yourself? Can you share a story or give some examples?
You can have supporters around you who can cheer you on and tell you that you’re doing a good job, but at the end of the day, you are the only person who actually needs the motivation to put it into action. You’re the only person that has the true vision for what you want to do with your business and your life, so you need to be your biggest supporter and motivator because if not you, then who.
I remember when I was first making the leap from finance to fitness a couple of people defiantly believed in me but the majority looked at me as if I had two heads, that I was in over my head, and that I was too young and didn’t know what I was doing. Sometimes you need to tune out the noise so that you can be clear on why you decided to make the decision in the first place.
What exactly does it mean to believe in yourself? Can I believe that I can be a great artist even though I’m not very talented? Can I believe I can be a gold medal Olympic even if I’m not athletic? Can you please explain what you mean?
It means that even when things get tough and you start to question if you can do it, you think back and remember why you decided to do it in the first place and you push past the discomfort that growth brings in order to come out on top. The old saying “fake it till you make it” reigns true, believe in what you are doing and commit yourself to figuring it out and the rest will follow.
What are your top 5 strategies that will help someone learn to believe in themselves? Please share a story OR example for each.
1 . No one knows what they are doing, so you might as well do what you want.
2 . Write down tangible goals to build up your self-esteem
3 . Find someone that had a similar background or trajectory as you, so that you can “see to believe” that someone who was once in your shoes was able to accomplish something amazing
4 . Learn to ask for help in areas that you are not as familiar with
5 . Celebrate your wins no matter how big or small
Conversely, how can one stop the negative stream of self-criticism that often accompanies us as we try to grow or hold us back from taking the leap?
I think the first step is to recognize and become conscious of the negative thoughts you are having. Once you are able to recognize when these thoughts arise or if they all follow a similar pattern you are able to address the root concern of your self-doubt. Knowing that you can learn to turn these negative patterns into something productive and turn your weak spots into points of difference.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I believe it’s a revolution that has been catching on strong in the last few years, but it would be people treating their health as their biggest asset. Often times I think people are too focused on putting importance on the wrong things; having a great career and making money are important but investing in your health early on will pay dividends for the rest of your life. If you don’t have your health, then nothing else can be accomplished.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They can follow @rumbleboxingcherrycreek or my personal Instagram @alana_dechtman
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.