When Dogs Fly…

I just returned from a fantastic week camping and fishing with my husband and our boxer dog Jasper. Aside from catching the biggest trout I have ever seen up close, something else happened that occupied my thoughts much of the drive home. My thoughts were about the courage it takes to take risks…and the theme continued in a call with a coaching client today.

Even though most boxer dogs never learn to swim, Jasper overcame his fear of having his feet leave solid ground when he was three. He just loves to retrieve sticks tossed as far out into the water as I can throw them.Last year, when he was eight, I tried to teach him a new trick – to jump off the boat dock at our fishing spot. As much as he wanted the stick, tossed into the water just out of his reach, he was too afraid to jump in because he couldn’t put his feet down on solid ground no matter how far out he stretched his paws past the edge of the dock. What was beyond the safety of the dock, and beneath the surface, was unknown.

Eventually we both gave up.

This year we tried again…the result:

Today I was coaching a client who runs her own small business. I’ll call her Susan here to protect her privacy. Susan started our call something like this: “I am frustrated with running my own business” “the responsibility is too much” “I am not cut out for this” “I don’t have the flexibility I want” and other words to that effect.

Recently Susan has taken bigger steps than usual, exhibited more courage ever before, and her income has doubled from the same period last year! With all that success she has been experiencing since we started working together Susan’s sudden desire to quit seemed surprising. In exasperation she exclaimed “maybe all this success has just worn me out?” Ouch! Sure sounded like a hasty retreat back to safety to me.

I asked some pointed questions and it turns out that Susan, like Jasper, had run smack up against the upper limit of her comfort zone. I asked her to recall, from what she has uncovered in our work together, what is it that motivates us to feel the fear, frustration, responsibility, and doubt that can come with being a small business owner and yet press on despite ever-present risk of failure, or as in Jasper’s mind , even drowning! The answer: our commitment to the fulfillment of our vision. It is only when either the immediate price of standing still is unbearable (which is usually is not) OR the clear value of the prize is much greater than our fear will we move ahead in spite of the perceived danger.

In Jasper’s case the joy of getting his stick, his desire to please and the praise he would receive when it brought it to shore became bigger than his fear of the unknown. With Susan, who has the most amazing talents and gifts, focus on her crystal clear vision of why her business exists, how it serves her and her enjoyment of life, and how she serves the world through her business, equates to less fear and more joy in taking leap, after leap, after leap into the great unknown.

If you find yourself stuck in your comfort zone or if you are not making the forward process in your business that you desire, it’s time to take a fresh look at the vision for your business.

Want the stick? Want the stick? Take a long good look at that yummy stick and….JUMP!!!