Taking chances can feel scary; it often involves entering unfamiliar or unpredictable territory. Maybe you’ll be required to invest some of your savings or experience challenges that are new to you, and so the size of your fears could blindside you from seeing the benefits.
Maybe you’ll talk yourself out of doing something and say ‘I’ll do it when the time is right’ or come up with dozens of other excuses that could stop you from taking a leap of faith. Maybe you’ll close the door on opportunities that your heart is longing to experience, only for another year to pass by where you wished you’d taken the steps to turn your dreams into a reality.
Taking a chance can benefit you to:
Some steps that you can take to feel more comfortable taking chances are:
1) Review what it's costing you to not take this chance. Is it costing you your happiness and personal fulfilment? What is your gut telling you?
2) Learn what you need to learn. Maybe the relevant training or skills could help you to enhance your self-confidence in your capabilities.
3) Don't allow your past mistakes or failures stop you. You aren’t the same person as you once were; you may have gained greater strength and wisdom as a result of your previous experiences which you can use to assist you in your next attempt.
4) Don't feel you have to go it alone. Maybe you can get a coach to help you create a roadmap for your goal, join a support group or make friends with others who have a similar goal to yourself, all of which are ways to help you maintain momentum and feel supported.
5) Let go of excuses. When taking on a new challenge it can be easy to allow excuses or self-sabotage stop you from moving forward. Evaluate which ones are genuine and which ones are negative self-talk and work on eliminating them.
6) Evaluate the worst-case scenario. What’s the worst thing that could happen if you took this chance? It is likely to happen? What could you do to prevent it from happening? Having a plan in your mind can help you to replace your fears with solutions.
Taking chances can stretch you and build your self-belief in your abilities. When we take small steps to stretch our boundaries we can build our confidence to take on greater challenges that move us a step closer to living the life we’ve envisioned for ourselves, turning our book of possibilities into a book of realities.
So, are you going to sit and wonder what your life could have been like if you took more chances, or are you going to embrace your opportunity to do something about it?
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