Courage to Change and Chase Your Dreams!

As I was preparing for a group coaching session on the topic of Courage, I had a massive aha moment! This often happens when I’m preparing for workshops and sessions. The very thing I’m preparing for is often the message I need to hear.

During our session on courage, we’ll be talking about why we don't pursue our dreams or chase our goals to our maximum ability. Sometimes we hold back or even self sabotage. Why is that?

In High Performance Coaching™, we know that there are three reasons that hold us back from chasing after our goals and our dreams and having that courage to persist or pursue through something you’re currently facing.

Loss Pain

Loss pain is that sense of fear that stops us because we tell ourselves that by changing, we're going to lose something. We get in our heads and think we’ll lose something important to us. As I journaled about my specific dream, something funny happened. When I wrote down my perceived “loss pain” I immediately crossed it off and thought, there’s no way I would let that hold me back!

Process Pain

The second reason why we hold back is process pain. We create stories around all the hard work it will take, the sacrifices and the concessions we’ll have to make. I remember I did this when I originally wanted to do the 75Hard program. I was so caught up in the thought of process pain that it was getting in the way. When I finally bit the bullet, I learned that the process was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Was it hard?! Freaking right it was - and oh so worth it! During this exercise I realized that the process pain I was creating wasn’t insurmountable which gave me a renewed sense of excitement!

Outcome Pain

The third pain we fear is outcome pain. What if I make the sacrifices, leave the relationship, move to another country, start that new job and the grass isn’t greener on the other side? When we get stuck looping our thoughts here, we hold back from changing or going after that big goal and this can paralyze us.

Its important to reflect on these steps but what matters the most is the next step and transition! Write out all the reasons why your life will be amazing and even better because of making your bold move! When I got to this point in the exercise my energy increased, the bullet points far outweighed the other categories of pain I was reflecting on, and I was inspired and reenergized immediately!

I want to encourage you today. If you are avoiding a difficult conversation or maybe holding back from realizing your dreams and goals, really reflect on what could it possibly be: lost pain, process, pain or outcome pain, but more importantly spend time on how your life will improve because of it!!