Last month I celebrated 7 years of Adaptaa in business. Time flies when you’re making an impact! When I founded the company, I gave myself 2 years to make it. And if not, I was going to return to trading and investing other people’s money. I’m delighted I never had to consider Plan B.
Throughout this extraordinary journey, I’ve had the privilege of working with incredible clients who have been on their own incredible journeys. Their dedication, passion, and relentless pursuit of excellence inspire me every single day. Together, we have overcome challenges, pushed boundaries, and achieved incredible results. And on this journey, I have learned to embrace the power of courage and care, my definition of Audacity! Here is one lesson for every year so far!
- Dare to Dream: Embrace audacity and dream big, for it is through daring to dream that you unlock your true potential. I dreamed of founding a company with a big mission that makes a huge difference and where the leadership experience starts from within. My impossible dream was to travel the world whilst serving others and doing what I love. In the last 12 months, I travelled to San Diego, Mexico, Curacao, Romania, Spain, Singapore, Italy and next week I will be in Ghana. And many more impossible dreams have come true. My son is travelling the world himself. This year he volunteered at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand and next week he will be travelling to Kenya. My daughter has achieved top results in her GCSEs exams and has had her own share of travelling in Europe with her friends during the summer. All this seemed impossible only 12 months ago. The one dream I don’t dare to talk about is the slow and final resolution of my painful divorce after 12 years of separation. And the one dream I’m most proud of? The publication of my book – The Audacity Spectrum, next year, after 4 years of dreaming it up and hard work.
- Take Courageous Risks: Take bold and calculated risks, for it is in stepping outside of your comfort zone that you discover new horizons and opportunities. When I get asked about what I do, I say “I give people courage”. I teach my clients (who are trained in taking financial risks), to take bigger personal risks than they are trained for or prepared to do! Throughout October we showcased some of our wonderful clients. And their stories of success never cease to amaze me.
- Care for Self and Others: Cultivate meaningful connections and nurture relationships with care, for it is in the bonds you forge that you find strength and support. Surround yourself with people who lift you up, for you become the average of the five people you spend most time with. At Adaptaa, we believe that what differentiates a leader from a boss is their Emotional intelligence. To listen rather than tell. To encourage rather than punish. To embrace conflict patiently, rather than avoid it. Adaptaa’s USP is the unique collaboration between its coaches, who have distinctly different leadership styles. Our model is pure collaboration between four coaches co-leading all the programmes in pairs, tripartite or as a collective. One of my core values is “sharing is caring”, so our coaches learn from and support each other along the way. It’s my welcome training ground, making decisions while creating harmony, being a leader rather than a boss, every day.
- Fail Forward: There is no failure. Just feedback. Keep experimenting. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. I don’t attribute everything that happens to me as a lesson from the Universe, but rather see it as a reflection of what I put out into the world. All our actions have a reaction. The difference between those who succeed big and those who don’t is their willingness to experiment and fail more than the rest. For our first Audacious Leaders Retreat planned in 2020, I bought plane tickets for all, that we had to change 2 times in the middle of the pandemic. We went ahead with our first retreat in Sept 21, despite resistance and obstacles thrown our way during the pandemic. The same in May 22. Two years on, our fourth retreat in May 24 was sold out within a month from the completion of our third!
- Believe in yourself and Don’t give up: True success is born from perseverance and a steadfast belief in oneself. If you are human like me, when challenges and obstacles are thrown your way, you can doubt yourself. Trust that you have the knowledge, skills, and resilience to overcome setbacks. Maintaining a positive mindset in moments of doubt and mastering the art of re-framing is key to staying motivated and determined. Surround yourself with positivity, whether through affirmations, supportive relationships, or inspirational stories. As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, I believed I could take the most difficult situation I had ever known and turn it into something joyful and beautiful. I knew there was nothing for me to change about my son. The shift that would make the difference was all to be found within myself. Dan has been the best teacher of persistence. Through him, I’ve seen that obstacles can turn into opportunities and that differences can become strengths.
- Seek Audacious Growth: Continuously seek personal and professional growth, for it is in caring to learn and daring to improve that you expand your range and deepen your capacity to reach your full potential. Double your learning, to triple your earnings has been my mantra for the last 7 years. Pro-actively seek feedback from those who are willing to give it to you with honesty and kindness. Get yourself a coach, a therapist, or a trusted advisor to reach heights you never thought possible.
- Be kind and hug others often: You can never be too generous with kindness and hugs. Sometimes, it may seem perplexing when we treat someone kindly, and yet they mistreat us in return. However, we often fail to realize that unexpected individuals in the future may bring us great blessings, even if they were not the ones we expected it from. The universe remains vast and mysterious, and what you put out, you will receive back. To dive deeper into the power of kindness and hugs, you can read my previous newsletter here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kindness-underestimated-business-strategy-alina-addison-she-her-/?trackingId=s3m21Jx5TJibzZHJ2hq6PA%3D%3D
Lastly, I am forever grateful to my daughter, Carly who taught me true patience and compassion. She gracefully handled her brother’s meltdowns with the strength of a thousand warriors. And she taught me to celebrate every small progress, cherishing the tiny victories which so many of us take for granted.
So, I invite you to keep pursuing audacious goals, be courageous in your actions, and always extend care to those around you