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Executive coaches & Leadership tips - how to develop your courage and risk taking

11 Nov 2013

In the world of sport it’s often said that you learn more from a loss than you do a win, and this is certainly the case for the amateur sports I’ve been involved with over the years. When we win a game, many of us pat ourselves on the back glowing in self-admiration for our fine skills, superior intelligent or cunning tactics. When we lose, and when we take personal responsibility for the loss, we can start to unpick what when wrong in preparation for the next game and to cut down our chances of repeating the same feelings of envy, self-reproach and disappointment. For it is our trying, not just our succeeding, which empower us and help us to improve. Indeed, when winning becomes too easy it is simply a massage for the ego, and the endeavours that make winning worthwhile can be forgotten. Yet if we learn more from losing and from the acts of competing, why is it that many of us won’t face their faces and use them to improve our lives. Often fear drives us to turn back and head for what we know is familiar territory even if this place is stale and uninspiring. So answer these questions:

1. What’s are the most scary things you’ve ever had to face in your life?
2. How did these experiences shape you?
3. What would it take for you to recognise and overcome that fear?
4. How could you use these experiences to help you overcome your current obstacles?

Now consider this:
1. What would you do if you had no fear and truly stepped into being ‘powerful beyond measure’?
2. What would you do right now if you knew you would not fail?
3. What stops you? 

Now ask yourself this question:

"If I knew I were good enough, what would I do?"

Note down your answers. Now ask yourself this same question four more times…

The answers you’ve given are what you could do if you were performing at your peak – how you could be if you aligned your goals with your authentic values, and if you had no limiting beliefs or gremlins holding you back. Whenever you come up against an insurmountable obstacle, stop and ask yourself: If I knew I was good enough, what would I do?

Blog written by Peter Willis of Lequin Leadership Development, an executive and leadership training company. 

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