Twelve years ago, I launched my business in the middle of a recession. I was inclined to wait based on perceived headwinds and sheer prudence. I was prompted by one word: GO! So, I did. It was time!

This Week’s Edition

This is a unique moment in time. The marketplace opportunities are enormous. Is this your time? Will you be on the rocket ship or watching it take off without you?

Clarify Your Thinking

I used to overanalyze to the point of paralysis. I didn’t want to make a mistake. In doing so, I fear I missed some incredible opportunities.

That was then. This is now. A near-death experience in Kenya in 2007, changed everything – my outlook on life and how I perceive risk.

Three years later, I started my leadership development and training business. At the time, very few of my friends or colleagues even knew what executive coaching was. It seemed risky to bet my entire future on a nascent industry doing something I was not then currently known for doing, especially in challenging economic times.

I stepped beyond my doubt and launched a business with no clients. I felt like the time was right even though on paper it didn’t quite add up. Looking back, I can’t imagine not having said “yes” at that time to this particular opportunity.

The reason I share this with you is that I see hundreds of leaders right now in the same boat as me back then. They are on the precipice of something great despite choppy pandemic recessionary times. In each of those leaders, I see on their face the same question, “Is this the right time to go?”

It’s not about never doubting. It’s about what you do in the face of that doubt. Take captive your thoughts. Don’t believe everything you think!

Embrace your doubt. It tells you everything you need to know about the thinking that needs to change and the action to be taken.

Thoughts Lead to Actions

To you, the aspiring confident leader, I offer the following open letter:

Our world is uncertain. You will never have enough data to make the decision that will give you the certainty you want. Taking a due diligence approach can sometimes be a professional coping mechanism to mask fear and doubt. It gives fuel to the inner voice that sounds like this: “There is just too much uncertainty to make a decision right now. I’ll just wait until I get more information.”

For those of you who feel called to something greater, including fulfilling your own true potential, I offer an alternative. In the face of the opportunity before us, the likes of which we have never seen before, the problem with waiting is that you might miss the opportunity – your opportunity. You can be an early adopter, a front of the pack leader, a market maker, a pacesetter. The time is now!

Boost Your Performance

Refocus your thinking and take action by asking yourself these questions:

1.   What’s the worst thing that could happen?

2.   What is the statistical likelihood that the worst thing will happen?

3.   What is the best thing that could happen?

4.   Which is the better bet – bet on yourself or bet on waiting?

5.   Determine what the first step might be. 

6.   Take it. Gather more information. Adjust.

7.   Take the next step!

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Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

If this was helpful, feel free to share it with another leader who needs to defeat doubt and complete their confidence.

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.