I recently had a conversation with a returning client about the real meaning and purpose of feelings, when he said to me that he’d like to experience more courage in his new endeavors.
Are you yearning for more courage? Or have you been at some point in your life?
How did you get more courage?
When we talk about courage, we often hear that we only need to be courageous and venture forward with whatever it is that we’re hesitating doing. As that’s the way of succeeding in anything.
Yes, this might as well be true.
But this is the part that gets a lot of people confused. Cause how can one be more courageous?
Often courage is something we feel afterwards. After we’ve done what we doubted or feared for. Not necessarily before it.
So, if courage comes after you’ve faced a challenging or difficult situation, then what makes you go forward in the first place?
I would argue curiosity.
You need to get curious first.
It’s curiosity that drives us to explore and to learn. To widen our perspectives and alter perceptions.
Even when the outcome is not certain. Or when we fear failure.
One way to wake up your curiosity is to simply ask yourself what would happen if you did it anyway.
That opens your mind to see beyond the limitations.
Habitually people are more prone to arguing for their limitations than they are to arguing for their possibilities.
But it doesn’t have to be the case for you, does it?
Six or seven years ago I had a client who was operating in the wellness industry and she wanted to grow her following and widen the reach.
One obvious way was to be present in traditional media (which wasn’t as crowded as social media, still isn’t).
But every time I suggested it to her, she had a whole lot of reasons why it’s not possible.
Timing wasn’t right. Her message wasn’t interesting enough. She didn’t have the right outfit, and needed to get in better shape herself.
And other as valid points as the above. You know what I’m talking about.
The real point was that she had this persistent idea that it would need to take a long time before she’d reach her goal. And she couldn’t see it otherwise.
(Of course, there can be others things in other cases, like past traumas etc. But that wasn’t the case for her.)
Until we took time to explore, in her mind, what would happen if she didn’t pitch media. And what would happen if she did.
Seeing the different alternatives, again, in her mind, she decided it was crazy not to go forward with getting her message share with wider audiences.
Within two weeks she landed her first interview in one of the biggest radio channels in Finland. And has been featured in magazines and different radio shows many times after. (Using my winning pitching method!)
I haven’t been in contact with her for a while now, but the last we connected after coming out of the pandemic, she for sure was arguing for the possibilities in her life.
Is there still something in your life where you might be arguing for your limitations instead of the possibilities?
If yes, get in touch and I’ll send you a fun way to challenge the habit!
With my all,
Paula
xx