Playing It Safe Is No Longer an Option

Improve Business Results with Executive Coaching From Chris Ruisi

In today’s economic climate, it sometimes feels very easy to fail. We convince ourselves that it is bad to experience the effects of failure. In reality, depending how we handle it, from failure we can learn how to do it better. Quitting and giving up - not failure - is what needs to be feared.

To protect ourselves from the pain of failure, we deliberately lower our expectations for our own performance. Setting the bar too low doesn’t help or protect us. In fact, by doing so, you cheat yourself of your full effort. You get into the dangerous habit of doing “just enough” to get by. In other words, you “play it safe”.

Once you get into the habit of playing it safe, you begin to use with increasing frequency the most deadly and dangerous four letter word in our daily vocabulary: “can’t”. This is when you talk yourself into all of the things that you think you “can’t” do.

How do you know when you are playing too safe? Here are some obvious - and not so obvious - signs:

• When confronted with a new challenge or project you spend more time thinking and worrying about what could go wrong as opposed to the opportunities that can be captured;
• You find it harder and harder to make the necessary decisions to move forward; you start to second guess yourself at every turn;
• You no longer have that same confidence in yourself that you had in the past;
• You are no longer having fun.

If you have experienced any or all of these “signs” then it’s time that we talk. Take that first step and contact me, or click here to find out more about Executive Coaching.