Playing big is a choice. For those of you watching on the sidelines, not sure whether you have the grit to succeed, there’s a tool that can help you decide.
When choosing to grow your business big, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have periodic doubts about whether you are up to the challenge. In Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message, Tara Mohr provides some practical tips for moving past the internal barriers, whether you are a man or a woman.
Playing big makes you vulnerable. It exposes you to the possible failure. You need courage to push past the risk. When your inner voice says you can’t do something, which happens even to the most successful among us, you need tools for pushing past the self doubt. Mohr provides many. I’m going to share just one of them, the one I think is most powerful.
Believe it or not, “playing big doesn’t come from working more, pushing harder, or finding confidence,” Mohr writes. “It comes from listening to the most powerful and secure part of you, not the voice of self-doubt.” Tap into that cheerleader inside you who not only knows you can succeed and cheers you on, the inner voice that provides answers when you face problems. Mohr calls this your inner mentor.
What I like about tapping your inner mentor is that you don’t need years of fixing yourself to do it. Honestly, you’re pretty good just the way you are. Tapping into your own power and wisdom immediately gets results.
Good external mentors can be few and far between, but your inner mentor is always there for you. Mohr has worked with thousands of women who unfailingly find that their inner mentor has the right answers at every turn.
Mohr uses a simple technique that she learned when training to be a coach at the Coaches Training Institute. It’s a 20-minute visualization exercise in which you picture yourself 20 years from now, then have a chat with your older wiser self. You can ask general questions, such as “What do I need to know to get from where I am now to where I want to be?” Or ask about a specific dilemma you face. “Should I continue to look for an investor for my company or find a job?” Deep inside, you’ll know whether you are meant to continue or not.
Now, some of you may still be on the fence about playing big and scaling your business. Let me give you a push. Something that you may not know: Happiness levels surge as women grow their businesses, according to the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) U.S. Report. American women entrepreneurs ranked their well-being higher than other women in the U.S., higher than women entrepreneurs in other countries, and higher than men. You can read why here.
What questions will you ask your inner coach?
