The Wilder Zone

Taking Risks

Living fully is all about taking risks. Stepping out of your comfort zone, leaping into the unknown, not holding back. It's often the greatest risks that offer the greatest rewards. Alternatively, they can also be the source of the greatest pain if things don't go as you dared to hope they would. Opening fully to life requires that we feel it all, the joys and the sorrows.

Sometimes the risks we take can be calculated. When growing your business and contemplating a new project you may be able to assess the risks against the potential gains. The factors which will affect the positive or negative outcome may be known. You may be able to analyze the cost/benefit ratio in making a decision whether or not to move forward.

But much of life is unknown and often it's impossible to assess with any accuracy, what the level of risk is. To attempt to do so is often an exercise in futility. It's in those moments that we have only our intuition to rely on. It's in those moments that we must make a choice, to play it safe or to take a leap of faith and hope for the best.

Despite my intellect at times trying to convince me of the folly of taking risks, my heart and my longing to do more, be more, experience more, live more fully, overrides and while there have been times when the risks I've taken have carried a steep price I have few regrets.

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that are inconsolable."  ~ Sydney J. Harris

The Nature of Success

Feeling in need of inspiration? Take a few moments to watch The Nature of Success movie.

Fun Quote

The next time you find yourself feeling doubtful you can accomplish something you've set out to do, just remember:

All it takes is faith and trust and a little pixie dust. ~ Peter Pan

Look Fear in the Face

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... You must do the thing you think you cannot do."  -- Eleanor Roosevelt

So true...

"Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have."
-Doris Mortman

How Do You Define Success?

"There is only one success -- to be able to spend your  life in your own way."
-- Christopher Morley

A Precious Privilege

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive--to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. " - Marcus Aurelius

How often do you start your day in this way? What might the impact, on your day, your life, your business, be if you started your day this way every day? What practice might you begin to implement to insure you do start each day this way?

It's all too easy, for those of us who work from a home office, to roll out of bed and head straight for the computer, the overflowing inbox, the lengthy to-do list that seems to multiply as we sleep. What if....you started your day with meditation, exercise, an inspirational, empowering book or audio book, a healthy and liesurely breakfast, quiet time simply contemplating the joy and possibility of a new day?

Our Deepest Fear

Another of my favorite quotes:

  “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson

Joy

"Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." - Marianne Williamson

Courage

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. - Alan Cohen

Courage is a topic that comes up often in my work with clients. Fear is a natural emotion when stepping out of your comfort zone to initiate change.  To build a successful business doing meaningful work you love will require that you step out of your comfort zone repeatedly.

The trick when living in The Wilder Zone is to recognize that courage, unlike many dictionary definitions, isn't so much about being fearless as it is about feeling the fear and moving forward despite it. It's about letting fear become an ally and using its energy to empower you. It's about moving through the fear and transforming it to excitement and passion for the business you're building.  Make this powerful paradigm shift and you'll never again wonder if you have the courage it takes to do what you've set out to do.