Sometimes all you need is 5 seconds, 5 seconds of insane bravery.
When I look at the most successful people, the people who are responsible for huge advancements, people who changed the world, at the core of their success lies bravery. They were brave enough to break out of the mold that society or their family put them in. They were brave enough to seek a solution to the problems they saw around them. They were brave enough to fail over and over again until they got it right; until they were ready for the luck that hard work and grit inevitably dishes out. If you find yourself wondering "what if" or daydreaming about the life you want to have versus the one you are living, Dr. Goldstein is going to prescribe you an overdose of Bravery with a chaser of grit. Are you ready to be brave? Down the hatch!
Here are a few ways to find out how big your brave is and uncover the courage that has been hiding within you all along!
Make a Choice to Be Brave
Life is defined by the choices we make. Everyday we make choices that impact all the tomorrows of our life. If you want a different life for yourself or your family, or you want to change lives with your ideas, you have a choice to make- stay where you are with regret, or be brave and chart your own course. You have to be dissatisfied enough to do something different. You have to make a choice to be brave no matter what comes up. Make a choice today to take a step towards your dreams so the ripple effects will be felt across all of your tomorrows and the lives within those ripples.
Acknowledge Your Fear
When you take that first step out of your comfort zone, when you stretch the fabric of status quo, it brings up the deepest, darkest demons of fear that you will ever face. You will need every ounce of strength and courage to face them, to conquer them, to vanquish them. Take heart that those demons are like childhood fears, once you shine the flashlight under the bed, they disappear. Once you acknowledge what they really are, figments of your imagination, and stop running from them, they lose all their power, leaving you to be a badass and meet your success head on. So, what are you afraid of?
Get Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
The hardest part of working towards success is getting comfortable with the fact that you have forever said goodbye to your comfort zone - after all, complacency = status quo. Once you own that fact, and put on your grownup underpants, being outside your comfort zone will no longer hold you hostage. The sooner you rip off your comfort zone armor, the faster success will come! The magic of this life all happens outside your comfort zone. Much like skydiving, the worst part is convincing yourself to leave a perfectly function airplane, the rest is an adrenalin high unlike anything else - trust me, I've been there, literally and figuratively, and it is the ride of your life!
Assemble Your Support Team
Besides bravery, a good support system is necessary on your road to success. Hopefully you will be lucky to have a great group of friends who will support you, and family that loves and supports you too, but if you don't, find people who believe what you believe, who have been where you've been, and have the vision and experience to help you get to where you want to go. If you don't have a coach yet, get one! Having a coach in your corner to navigate these uncharted waters will make all the difference. My coaches have been the linchpins to my success. Success is a joint effort! (Golden Key Partnership has a phenomenal professional coaching program, even if I might be slightly biased!)
Acknowledge the Worst-Case Scenario
Lastly, this is the time to get real. What is the biggest, scariest, most horrendous worst-case scenario that could happen when you head down this route? Bankruptcy? Exile? Public ridicule? What is it? This is one of the most effective and eye-opening experiences that I have my clients go through. The reason it is so effective is that it allows you to recognize what could happen and accept it. Once you are aware of it, you will no longer be afraid of it because you know what could happen. This realization is empowering and more than that, it allows you to take steps to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening. Granted, things happen that fall outside of your control, but just like hiking Mt. Everest, you need a well-charted map, a plan, and an awareness of what may lay ahead so you can successfully summit your own mountain.
My advice to you is simple, be brave and allow the space between where you are and where you want to be, inspire, not terrify you! In my 7+ years in the industry, the biggest fear, worst-case scenario, that I see keeping people stuck is, the fear of becoming an outcast. Don't let the fear of being an "outsider" hold you back from changing the world! The world needs you, your ideas, and your talents; don't make them the best kept secret of your life!
I will leave you with the words of doctor Seuss and one last question.
Why fit in, when you were born to stand out?
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