The risk of not taking risks
Taking risks can be inherently difficult.
Why, might you ask?
Because as humans we are engineered to survive. Safety signals survival, and we seek safety through predictability, probability and being in-control. Each an oxymoron when it comes to taking a risk.
Paradoxically, because we are engineered to survive, the risk of not taking a risk would almost certainly see us resist all change, thereby not adapting to our external environment and almost certainly guarantee our extinction.
Hi, I’m Sharné, a Growth Mindset Coach and Motivational Speaker.
But this wasn’t always the case.
For over 12 years I was a corporate lawyer, including Founder of a nationally recognised, multi-award-winning law Firm.
After years of internal struggle, I finally hit rock-bottom personally and burn-out professionally.
Being forced to make a choice between playing it safe in the name of ‘survival’, or taking the risk of growing and expanding through it all, the path I took is self-evident and boy I have never been more grateful!
Nothing spells taking a risk more than selling your nationally recognised law Firm and trading it in for Growth Mindset Coaching. Thankfully, a Growth Mindset taught me sometimes the biggest risk of all is staying the same, doing the same and expecting different results.
Today, I guide hundreds of clients in the face of change to work through their subconscious programming and belief systems, so that they can decide for themselves whether the risk of not taking the risk, is worth the gamble.
The most common subconscious limiting beliefs I see in my clients and in high performers are:
(1) Fear of Failure: Believing that any failure on paper is a reflection of personal inadequacy and a catastrophic event;
(2) Imposter Syndrome: Overlooking the years of evidence of their capabilities, talents, outcomes and successes; and
(3) I am not Good Enough: False narratives and beliefs that you must be someone special to take risks and have them pay off.
Surprisingly, the most common subconscious limiting belief is the fear of being successful and having the risk pay-off. I have to put my hand up and say when it comes to this subconscious block and belief, I am guilty as charged!
See, on a conscious level one might want to take the risk, make the change and reap the rewards. However, on a subconscious level many high performers fear what changing the status quo would mean for them personally. Fears around coping with that amount of stress and expectations, losing friends, facing jealousy or having to handle more responsibilities all play into the fear of being successful and having the risk pay-off.
Thankfully there are many re-wiring and re-programming tools, techniques and strategies to allow you to objectively examine, reality check and re-frame these outdated subconscious limiting beliefs.
Having gone through the process of taking a significant risk myself, and working through my own limiting beliefs and fears around success, I am filled with gratitude to be able to say I have never been more fulfilled on a personal and professional level.
Guiding hundreds of clients towards Growth and Expansion, through Growth Mindset Coaching, Motivational Speaking and various Media Publications, I can attest that sometimes, our greatest risk lies in not taking the risk at all.