One of my favourite questions is What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Fail.Why I like this question is, because it takes us out of scarcity thinking, worrying about failure, and puts our mind to work on possibility. Looking at things from a position of abundance where we have everything we need and nothing could stop us.
This is a huge mindset shift and it’s not always easy to do, but it is something we need to work on mastering because the benefits are significant. It not only encourages us to go for a bigger, bolder goal but it also helps us visualise how we could achieve it.
Often our fears of failure, which hold us back, are just that they are fears, and are not always based on actual reality.
This negative thinking stifles our creativity!
This year, as one of my big bold goals, I decided that I would look to hold a leadership conference in sept/oct.
It was extremely hard for me to put that down initially, I had all kinds of doubts, fears, and concerns. Maybe no one would sign up, if they did maybe the content wouldn’t be good enough, maybe I wouldn’t be able to get other speakers to come and join me.
This list of reasons why this wouldn’t work was immense, but it was just me thinking from a position of scarcity.
So I asked myself, What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
The answer was simple, I would do it? I’d pick a date, I would create an agenda, I would invite people to come and speak with me, and I would look to start the marketing.
Having taken that approach I now have some pretty low risk things I can do, I can look to create an agenda, which is not that hard, I can invite people to join me to speak, the worst they could say is no, but maybe they won’t.
Once I have done that, then maybe I will have an agenda I like, with some good people speaking with me. At which point I could then look to market it with confidence.
However, if I can’t come up with an agenda, or people say no thanks, then what has been the impact of trying ? Nothing really, there has been no real cost other than my own time.
So now I have some simple things to do, which if they go well will put me in a position to move forward with my big, bold goal.
But if I had not asked what would I do if I couldn’t fail, I would’t have even come up with these first few tasks, I would have just decided that it won’t work and therefore I won’t even bother trying anything.
So get into the habit of asking yourself, what would you do if you couldn’t fail, and maybe you will come up with some low risk early steps which will get you started on the path, because starting is the first step on the road to success.
If you want to know more about achieving results, or how to be a better Leader, a FAST Leader, then either contact me at gordon@leadership-principles.com or sign up on the website.
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