No risk, no reward! The Go-Getters Anthem
Day 3 and 118 Days to go in my 120 Days of Radical Action
This challenge requires me to seek out opportunities to take radical action towards my dreams. As a reminder, radical action is different for everyone. My radical action today may not seem that radical, but it was a big step outside my comfort zone.
Today I focused on being vulnerable. I did that by sharing my blog and my 120 day challenge with people outside my inner circle. This equates to sharing my deepest, darkest secrets with semi-strangers. I am pretty sensitive to criticism when it comes to sharing my dreams, big ideas, feelings, personal beliefs, and flaws. Additionally, I like to get my work as close to perfect before sharing it. This usually slows down or halts my progress. Based on yesterday’s lesson, I know that I should not worry about making everything perfect before I share it. I say all that to say, that sharing my blog and this challenge with more than my close friends and family feels risky. Today, however, that risk paid off.
I had a great conversations with a co-worker, Newman, that helped me affirm I am headed in the right direction.
Newman and I work in the same department but we don’t know each other very well. Our work doesn’t overlap much, so most of interactions are in the mornings when we say quick hellos at the Starbucks in our building. This morning, however, we finally decided to walk down to grab coffee together. We waited in line together, having the typical conversations about our weekend adventures. When it was my turn to share, I decided to give him the cliff-notes summary of my commitment to 120 Days of Radical Action to achieve my Dreams.
Newman’s response was music to my ears.
“Wow, I am motivated just hearing you say that [120 Days of Radical Action]. That’s great! It makes me want to take action!”
It was just the words of affirmation that I needed to hear. In fact, from there the conversation went even deeper. As we sat down to enjoy our coffee, I got the opportunity to hear a little of Newman’s life story. His story was personally impactful to me in a couple of ways:
- He showed me how easy it is to be vulnerable and to open yourself up to others
- He inspired me to get serious about being a foster or adoptive parent–something that my husband and I have started considering
What’s more is I got the chance to be vulnerable by telling him a little more about the challenge, sharing my big audacious dream, and sending him the link to my blog. I walked away from our conversation realizing that in order for a dream to grow into reality, you have to bring it into the light.
Lesson Learned
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7
This scripture popped into my head as I reflected on my lessons learned for today. This proved to be true today in that, I was seeking confirmation that doing this challenge publicly is worth the risk. As a result, I now have a community of my friends, family, and now co-workers as my accountability and encouragement partners. They’re partnership is so much more inspiring and invigorating than I expected. I asked for their help and they have all responded with a resounding Yes!
So that’s the recap of my Radical Actions and Lessons Learned today. For those of you joining me on the challenge, tell me how your day went. Haven’t joined the challenge yet? Join now. :0)