On our ‘Engaging People, Powering Companies’ podcast last week,

Amrit spoke about the power of conviction. Really committing and going for something takes strength and the courage of conviction, as well as adaptability, vision and a willingness to embrace change. All great leadership qualities! The flip side of this though, is when perhaps we are so sure, and so convinced of something, so set in a belief, that we can fail to recognise opportunity, and have no want to embrace change at all.

This really comes down to change and a willingness to flex and adapt. We know our brains are hard wired to protect us from failure. In behavioural economics this is called Loss Aversion, where a real or potential loss is perceived as being more painful than the equivalent gain. We prefer small, guaranteed outcomes over larger risky ones. Our brain wants to minimise loss more than it wants to make gains. It wants to keep us safe and protected. This is not that exciting though is it! Achieving things that go against what our brains want, so that we can be bold and move forward with our dreams, can take real courage.

Amrit spoke of our transition from The Engagement Coach to &Evolve. We rebranded because what once was (a one-man band) was no longer, and the team had grown. However, The Engagement Coach was well known and trusted over the nine years it had existed and making a change was risky. The advice was to stick with what we had rather than risk losing what Amrit had taken so long to build. However, Amrit knew that it just didn’t suit, and he had such a powerful vision which gave him the courage of conviction. He knew if we made the leap, we would end up in a better place than where we were. He was right.

He was surrounded by people worried for him, and when I listened to him speak on the podcast, I was reminded of the quote by Erin Hanson, “There is freedom waiting for you, On the breezes of the sky, And you ask "What if I fall?" Oh, but my darling, What if you fly?”.

We are always trying to prevent ourselves and those we love from taking risks that just might turn into some sort of loss. And we need to be careful as parents and leaders because we can make people think the world is much scarier than it is and inadvertently give messages to people that make them wonder if we think they are capable, or that it is just better to stay safe, preventing them from flying. This is something I have always been acutely aware of, due to the fear I felt from my parents for wanting to get out there in the world. I worked hard on this part of me, to listen to and trust my vision and strength, and freedom is one of my values after all! Now my son lives in New Zealand at twenty-three after having done more travelling than I ever have!  Maybe I went a bit far?!

We crave certainty and safety and sometimes the fear of the new and the unknown feels more painful than the new unknown. We like to know where we are at all times, and in fact pain and pleasure are powerful motivators of our behaviour in terms of whether we are likely to adapt, flex, or change things up, or not. Think about anything currently that you have been putting off and consider why you have not yet taken action. Chances are it is because there is safety and comfort (pleasure) in staying where you are, and the new is scary, uncomfortable, and uncertain (pain).

At some point though staying stuck and continually wondering what life would be like if you took the leap, well that becomes painful, and the see-saw tips and it starts to feel more pleasurable to move. You can relate this back to any big life decision, I am sure.

Amrit shared the story of when he was sixteen and took up Karate. After 6 months of training, he and his friends were approached to enter the National Championships. Up to this point he lacked faith in his abilities and felt a lack of courage to try new things, however feeling that someone (his coach) had faith in him, well this spurred him on, and he trained hard!

Believing in the faith that he thought he saw from his coach, started to shape his own beliefs in what he could achieve, and this became so strong, that he had a real courage of conviction that he could actually do this. He only went on and won! That one event changed his life! His coach was flabbergasted as he never expected this outcome at all!  Yet, Amrit was so clear about his belief and what he could achieve, he made it happen! That is a strong courage of conviction right there!

When it comes to achieving things at work and making those dreams a reality, how clear are you about your vision. Maybe it is to do with your marketing strategy, or your own personal development, or how big you want to grow. Whatever it is, how clear are you? What are your beliefs around the situation? What narratives do you tell yourself? What language are you using? Whose advice are you listening to? Make sure it is all rooted in courage, vision, and hope rather than fear and uncertainty. What is it about staying where you are that is comfortable and safe? How can you start to see staying put as more uncomfortable to help motivate action?

Tony Robbins believes in associating pain with staying where you are, and pleasure with changing. We can harness that loss aversion tendency by switching how we think about things and use it instead to leverage these very human tendencies. Ask yourself what will it cost you if you don’t change? What pleasure will you receive by taking action right now? Maybe if we can ponder on that for whatever the situation or dream we are relating this to, we might all be able to take that leap. I’ll see you in the sky!

Click here to listen to the podcast.