One recurring theme in my conversations with clients and other leaders is bravery and, specifically to my thoughts today, around when people are seen by others as being brave, but to them what they are doing feels easy.
Why does a theme of bravery come up often in my conversations?
Firstly, as people talk to me and choose to work with me to support them around change that is more than incremental, change that is meaningful and impactful, because of this bravery comes up.
For those people, then, when they are focussed on such change, and particularly when they move beyond Vision and Strategy into acting to make such change happen, people around them will often say: “you are brave to do this” or words to that effect.
After being told that, leaders will often share that people have said they are being brave, but also note that to hear that feels strange to them. Why strange? Because it doesn’t feel that brave to the person doing it, they are simply doing what they need to do.
This is one of my most oft-used phrases and it certainly applies here.
When you take time to be clear on your WHY and then WHAT you need to focus upon in order to make the HOW happen, then the HOW is easy. It doesn’t feel brave to you, it feels natural and the right thing to do. You just do it.
So, as a tip, if you are ever doing something that feels brave to you (and so, most likely, a little scary), flip all of this thinking by pausing to remind yourself WHY you are doing it. Do that and it will feel less brave.