During our last A-mazing leaders’ session, we talked about Audacity. The willingness to take risks to fulfil your dreams and your potential.
And I did an audacious thing and leaned into my edge by showing up “unprepared” and not using my usual perfect slides. Ready to listen and follow the energy in the room. For those who don’t know me, preparation and planning are my superpowers, so not using them felt edgy. And sharing my edginess with the group created some magic.
Inessa, one of our audacious leaders, reminded me of Churchill ‘s quote “If you want me to speak for 2 hours, I’m ready now, if you want me to speak for 2 min, give me 2 weeks to prepare!” I was ready for the challenge. And ready to challenge our leaders to speak up and share audaciously, by stating I was going to be silent for 5 min. After what felt like an eternity to me, a wonderful collection of stories emerged as a result….Stories of courage, of vulnerability and necessity. Of dreams to make the world a better place. Starting with us.
We agreed to put courage over comfort and play big and “dream without limits”. Everyone virtually chose one of the 4 questions from my jar with magical questions:
- What would you do with your life if you had all the money you needed?
- What would you do if you had all the skills and knowledge you needed?
- What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
- What would you do if you had all the time you needed?
You see, we sometimes blame the lack of resources for our lack of resourcefulness. Or our unwillingness to take risks. You need to find the resourcefulness inside yourself to deal with the fear of or perceived lack of the resources you think you need (money, time, skills/knowledge and failure)! If you have the resourcefulness, you will find the resources.
Taking risks is not about being fearless or having no fear. It’s about acknowledging the fear and doing it anyway. It’s about knowing what you know and what you don’t know. It’s about being open to people, open to ideas, and the chances you take to make your vision and dreams a reality.
My biggest insight from the session? All of us found it easier to be courageous in our youth, as audacious Kora reminded us! When we had much less to lose. We had no fear of losing the money, the status or the recognition we didn’t yet have! Anything that you are not willing to lose, it has power over you. The only real freedom is freedom from fear.
What is your fear? And what would you do if you could own that fear? As Tatiana told us “Fear is a gift. It’s telling us when we need to act or which way we need to go”.
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. Let yourself be seen and be audacious. As Carmen told us, “let yourself go and flow with the river of life”.
ADA, 4 July 2020