Acting with courage

I can’t believe how fast this month is going. January usually feels like it lasts about three months. But this January, despite lockdown and staying home it’s flown past. I think running the free Grow Your Confidence Challenge really helped. Not only did it give the women who took part a fabulous confidence boost but it gave me a huge January energy and enthusiasm boost. I have to admit that thanks to seasonal affective disorder (SAD) I was feeling pretty low at the beginning of the month and so deciding to still go ahead with the confidence challenge was an act of courage on my part, telling myself that I could show up for others and be of service despite my SAD. And I was right and because of this when I was thinking about this week’s blog I decided it would be a good time to revisit what I wrote about bravery early last year.

What does it mean to be brave?

Often I think we see or hear this word and think of heroic action. Of doing what needs to be done in dangerous circumstances. Of medals awarded to members of the emergency services and armed forces. But there is also everyday bravery. Those acts of courage necessary to move our lives forward. Asking the person we like whether they’d like to go for coffee. Asking for a pay rise. Applying for the promotion. Deciding to change career. Speaking up in a meeting.

I never thought much about bravery. I certainly didn’t consider myself brave but I began to notice it coming up in conversations with friends. They’d tell me that they could never run their own business and when I asked why, expecting answers about time, money or knowledge, instead they said, “I’m not brave enough.” This astounded me as I don’t feel particularly brave. But, on reflection, yes, I've made brave decisions and acted with courage.

At the time it felt scary to go it alone and start my own business, but I knew in my heart that it was absolutely the right decision for me. I was being made redundant for the second time. I asked my inner wisdom what I should do next and made a decision I knew I could trust.

It was knowing that I could trust myself and my decision that helped me to find the courage to follow through and take the action. I didn’t feel particularly brave. I was scared and excited in equal measure. I was daunted but determined. I found my courage and took action. Seven years on those brave actions that took enormous courage at the start – setting my fees, marketing my work, asking for payment – they’re all well within my comfort zone now.

Three years ago when I decided to do my coaching qualification and launch my coaching business I went through all the same fears again. Just walking into the room of 150 plus people for the first weekend of training was scary enough.

Even though it was what I knew I wanted to do next and right for me committing the money was scary. It took courage to make that investment in myself. Finding the time to do the work and attend the training days was daunting when I already had a successful business taking up so much of my time and energy. But, I knew it was the right decision. I know I can trust my decisions and so I was brave and took the necessary action.

When I look back at my life, my career in particular, so much I have achieved and so much of my growth has happened because I’ve been brave. I’ve acted with courage. I've gone from not wanting to speak in a meeting to chairing meetings with confidence. I've gone from dreading giving presentations to loving public speaking. I’ve gone from hiding in a corner at social and networking events to making small talk with ease.

Some of these shifts have been very conscious. Some of them have been thrust upon me by circumstances. Either way it was me who showed up with courage. It was me who chose to be brave in that moment.

But, I also know what happens when you fail to be brave.

Fourteen years ago my inner wisdom told me loud and clear that I needed to leave my job. I needed to find a way to get out no matter what. But I chose to listen to fear. I had clarity without courage. I got stuck in a cycle of indecision, stayed put and the decision was taken out of my hands thanks to the toll staying there had on my health. Instead of being brave and doing what my inner wisdom was telling me to do so very clearly I listened to my fear and it ended up taking me months to put myself back together again.

I’ve experienced both sides of being brave and failing to be brave and I believe that we need to act with courage and take risks sometimes. I’m not talking about being reckless, instead a calculated risk. Becoming self-employed was risky but I had redundancy money and some savings. I wasn’t risking losing my house by seeing whether I could make my own business work.

Many of the women I work with have side businesses. They still have an income from their job so they aren’t risking the roof over their family’s head, but they are being brave, putting themselves and their work out there and making a difference to their clients’ lives and their own lives.

I’d encourage you to do a little life audit. See where you’re already being brave – you may be pleasantly surprised. Where do you need to be more brave? What courageous action could move things forward for you or those you love?

I can help you get there. The doors to my group coaching programme, Your Pathway to Confidence, Clarity and Courage are open. This five-week programme is carefully designed to give you the knowledge and tools to build your confidence, get real clarity about what you want from your life and why and then move into courageous action making real progress on something that’s important to you.

I will help you to
✨Take control of your inner critic.
✨Meet your inner mentor and learn to trust your own inner wisdom.
✨Make decisions with more ease and learn to trust them, teaching you the method I use.
✨Believe you are enough and let go of the burden of perfectionism!
✨Swap your limiting beliefs for much more empowering ones.
✨Get crystal clear about what you want in each area of your life.
✨Move into courageous action to make real progress on the project most important to you.

It’s already fantastic value with a payment plan available too. Sign up by 9pm GMT on Wednesday 27th and you will also have access to an additional group coaching session after the programme ends to keep you on track and making progress.

I keep this programme really small so that I can offer support to everyone in the group. Link here to find out more and secure your place now.