Before I started my coaching business I did a ‘DARE of the Day’ for an entire month to get used to failure and being told ‘no’. I DARED myself to ask for a free glass of champagne at restaurants, to ask for a discount, or an upgrade, and to take risks in my personal and professional life. It was great practice in handling rejections and failure, as well as in pushing myself past what I thought were my limits and definitely getting out of my comfort zone.
I have been thinking about this challenge a lot recently. After more than a year of pandemic restrictions, I have gotten very comfortable being at home with myself. I feel like my life has gotten smaller, more comfortable and almost stagnant. Some of this ‘smallness’ comes from the restrictions placed on everyone in the country where I currently live. Some of it comes from the anxiety I have been living with during the pandemic. But I think some of it is also coming from the mindset I have adopted during the pandemic; a mindset of safety, of wanting to crawl back into that proverbial cave that humankind crawled out of so long ago.
Our brain is programmed to put our survival first, so it is no wonder that we are anxious and obsessed with safety facing the obstacles we’ve had this past year. Staying in this survival mode makes it hard for us to accomplish our goals, to grow as a person, and to take action.
That is why I would like to spend this month building self-confidence, focusing on it by taking action, and by inviting you to join me in the ‘DARE of the Day’ challenge.
Here are the ‘DARE of the Day’ rules:
- Pick one thing per day that scares you, and do it.
- It has to be something that requires you to ‘get over a fear’.
- Write about it before and after.
- Try to complete a DARE as many days as possible this month.
- Don’t violate the COVID safety precautions or other laws where you are living.
If you commit to doing this now, you will not be as likely to back out when the day comes. So choose to do this to get good at being self-confident.
Feel free to share your DARES and to follow my DARES on Facebook and Instagram at XPatLifeCoaching. I DARE you.