Over the last few weeks I had the pleasure of meeting a number of amazingly talented individuals that are not living their true dream. You know what I mean.  That ideal vision of how life would look like for them. And neither am I, though I’m getting closer.

All this stuckness got me thinking about how to best get a handle on the situation and create concrete insight into what the real linchpins might be. Looking at my own life and work I came up with these questions.

Give them a go and be as honest with yourself as you can be. The answers may surprise you and may offer you a way forward.

Pick an area of life you want to explore. You may wish to keep the area wide (my life) or narrow it to one specific arena (business), task (career change) or person (partner). Note down all that comes to your mind in response to each question below.

The area I want to consider is…..

Q1. If I was not afraid to get hurt I would…..
Q2. If I was not afraid to lose face I would…..
Q3. If I was not afraid of failure I would…..

Q4. If I was willing to experiment with this area to see what is possible I would…..

Q5. If  I trusted in myself 100% in this area I would…..
Q6. If I valued myself as much as I expect others to value me I would definitely…..

When finished consider these questions:

q1. What do I really fear in this situation? What is the impact my fear has in this area and more generally?
q2. What would experimenting allow for?
q3. How much do I trust myself in this area? What has given me that trust?
q4. How much do I value myself at the moment? What’s my evidence?

The insights you make will help pinpoint where you need to do more work to develop courage and may give you ideas how you can do so safely.

Do drop me a short line about what you notice from doing this exercise.

And, enjoy the rest of this week.