Category: Personal Growth

5 Fundamental Lessons to Change Your Thinking About Risk

The more you risk failure, and actually fail, the greater your chances of success. It is rare that anything of value is created or accomplished during the first attempt. Failure, reflection, evaluation, adjustment, and persistence creates your path for success.

Most of us limit the risks we take. We work to avoid failure. We view failure as a negative, and become stuck in our comfort zone. We want more, but are unwilling to risk more.

Here are four lessons that may help you view risk from a different perspective.

1. Who cares if you look bad? Sometimes it is better to care less about looking good. Don’t let the fear of looking bad keep you from taking a risk. Would you rather look good, or find success? Step back and ask yourself this simple question, “Who cares if I look bad?” You normally don’t look good doing something the first time. So just do it.

2. Why are you waiting? Are you waiting for the perfect circumstances before taking action? If you find yourself continually evaluating your options, and gathering more data, stop analyzing. Stop thinking about why you need to wait, and think about why you need to act. You will never have all the data. The faster you move forward, the faster you reach success.

3. Do you have a budget? Create your own budget for risk and failure. Set a goal for your failures. The budget can be based on money, time, or effort. It could include all three. Plan on spending it every month. Make it a habit. This practice provides visibility to how much risk you are actually taking.

4. Where is your inspiration? Is your inspiration based on the value you place on your goal? This may seem obvious. But when your actions are driven by the wrong motives, this question may remind you to get back on track. Are you inspired and motivated by the right reasons? When your values and actions are aligned, you will find risks easier to accept. You are able to move forward faster.

You may read these questions, and think this does not apply to me. I take risks. I am action oriented. It may be true. However, my experience has shown, no matter what level of risk you are used to, everyone has the opportunity to grow in this area. We tend to overestimate the risks we actually take.

This week’s challenge is to evaluate where you are taking risk, and where you are risk adverse. Challenge yourself to find the opportunities that are waiting for you. You may discover something great that you have been avoiding.

Increase Your Ability to Connect

If you are trying to strengthen a connection with someone, get out of your own head, and get into theirs. If can discover how people spend their time and money, you will learn what they value. If you know what they value, you will have gained valuable insight in how you may improve your connection with them.

It seems like such a simple approach, but all of us live life through our own perspective. You have to intentionally refocus your thoughts to achieve another perspective. Here is how you can apply this simple tool.

1. Understand both time and money. If you want to understand someone, you need to see both aspects. Together they will give you a better understanding. Where do they spend money? When do they pay for premium, and when do they buy just average products (clothes, car, food, etc.)? How do they spend their time at work? How do they spend their free time? When are they the happiest? What activities do they enjoy? These simple questions can give you great insight.

2. Find common ground. Once you feel you understand what someone values, you need to determine what you have something in common. At times this is easy to recognize, and in other cases you will have to dig deeper. Making a connection with someone with whom you share an interest or hobby can be easy. But if you need to connect with someone when you don’t see common ground, you should consider values, ideals, and thoughts. This can be a tougher option to uncover.

3. Take action to connect. How can you meet their need? How can you create a connection based on the shared common ground? This is the action step. You may be able to develop your connection through shared goals, and interests. You might also be able to develop a connection by modifying your behavior to match what they value, in order to build rapport. However, always be authentic, and always maintain your own values. Never become something you are not just to make a connection.

Take a minute and think about someone you know fairly well. Think about how they spend their time and their money. What does that tell you about what they value, and what is important to them?

Now think about someone you want to connect with. Do you know how they spend their time and money? If not, your first step is learning more about them. If you do, then how would you describe their values? Does it give you any ideas on how to strengthen your connection with them?

This is a simple tool, but can be powerful at moments when we struggle to connect!

The 6 P’s Shape Your Daily Success

Last week I had a cold, and didn’t accomplish much. I just didn’t have the energy and engagement that I needed to be effective. But the world continued on as if nothing was different. The cold impacted me and my perspective and not the rest of the world.

It made me realize that whether I have a cold or not, my results are based on how I view and interact with the world. It is up to me to make every day count. So as a reminder to myself I came up with the 6 P’s of making sure I have a great day.

1) Passion. I must love doing what I love. I am driven by what is important to me. I want my day to be driven by passion.

2) Purpose. If today is going to count, I have to know what I want to achieve. I like to define my  purpose and intent each today.

3) Perspective. How does my purpose fit with what else is happening around me? When I have a good sense of perspective I am more effective. Perspective provides me awareness and a positive attitude for the day.

4) Process. I convert my ideas and my plan into results through action. I must proactively process my daily challenges and tasks. I have to be focused on getting work done.

5) Persistence. Life is difficult. I can give up, or I can be persistent. I choose to be persistent.

6) Pep. Being energized helps me be my best. If I am tired, I will not have a great day. If I want to be at my best, I need to have the energy to stay focused all day.

When I make a plan that includes all 6 of these, I will have a great day. A day full of success. No one else can provide these aspects to my life. It is up to me. The responsibility to have a great day rests on my shoulders. So the next time I have a bad day, I know who to blame.

Do you want to explore coaching? From coaching you can expect to get clarity about your purpose and your goals, your action plans, and your follow through. If you want to learn more, contact me and let’s schedule a session.

Are You Taking Advantage of the Transitions in Your Life?

If you are like me, when you think about transitions that have occurred in your life, you will mostly recall major changes. Some were good, and some were bad. But you remember them because of the impact on your life.

Transitions are also the points in our lives that offer the greatest opportunity for learning. As a situation changes, we have the ability to reflect on the change itself, how we react to the change, and how it affects our future.

I spent time this week thinking about transitions, and realized that I am continuously in transition. These transitions occur in three main areas.

1) Time – Transitions occur daily as we have morning routines, afternoon routines, and evening routines. We transition from day to night. We transition through our week. We transition through the seasons of the year. But most importantly we transition through the seasons of our life.

2) Relationships – Relationships are always in transition. Relationships are growing stronger or becoming weaker. At a minimum we must give attention to a relationship to maintain it. Relationships are the most dynamic transitions of our life.

3) Activities – The activities and tasks that occupy our time, effort, and energy are in transition. We gain new interests, we lose interest in others. We are driven by our responsibilities to our families, our employers or clients, and to ourselves. The focus of these activities transition based on our priorities and the surrounding circumstances.

The importance of recognizing all of these transitions is to take advantage of the learning opportunities. Each transition provides an opening to improve.  How often do you take advantage of your transitions to enhance your life?