Be BOLD

Recently I was asked to ‘be bold’. Looking at the directive message, I got thinking-what does ‘be bold’ mean here..is it the context, is the action, is it me ( as a person) or is it all of three?

Bold as an adjective is brave and audacious…clearly, I was not being asked to be brave. I was being asked to act. I was being asked to do what I had wanting or trying to do and was hesitating. More so, I was being asked to do the unexpected, out of my character where I was limited by myself.

Rummaging through my experiences of 'being bold', I questioned myself what I have learnt over the years about being bold? What have I done/ practiced on occasions when I have been bold, and how can I practice being bold all the time and not sporadically or in this case when directed?....Here’ s what I learnt,

Do not hesitate- if this is something that you have been wanting to do. Just do it! Do not limit yourself your own blueprint, cultural norms or continued analysis and your own past decisions. Ask yourself the powerful question- 'what do I want?' Not what I should do, or what I must do. Then take charge and go for it.

Being bold at times will also mean doing the unexpected, not something that you usually do. For people like me, whose actions are thought through and go through multiple iterations of a decision tree, scenario planning with all risks mitigated, being bold also means going with your gut. Take that chance, take that little or big risk that you normally would not.

And when you are being bold, it is important that you are ready for a negative outcome, rejection or subjecting yourself to a whole lot of uncertainty. Because being bold also means taking unusual, unprecedented actions for yourself. And anything that is unusual, does not come with a guidebook. Therefore, with bold actions brace yourself with uncertain outcomes.

If you would like to be comfortable with being bold or inculcate boldness, do something that you are afraid of and do it often. Challenge yourself to do things that scare you, take decisions out of character where you have often been limited by yourself. Being bold is quite the same as believing in being able to do impossible things. As rightly said by Lewis Carroll, on difficulty in believing in any impossible things- ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice'.

And practice vulnerability...show your raw self, be open, unguarded & celebrate your strengths and weaknesses. By being open, putting forward your authentic self there are no more guarded interactions, fears of rejection or failure. In fact, vulnerability is itself is a bold act, because it takes risk of removing the masks and armor that many of us are conditioned by our environment to wear, or choose to wear. The more you practice vulnerability, the more resilient you become and more easily you meet failure and rejection....and the bolder you get.

In becoming bold saying ‘NO’ more often is important- saying no to things that don’t work for you or those you wholeheartedly don't believe in. The more you will say ‘Nay’, the more comfortable you become with saying ‘Yay’ to what you truly want and the more fiercely you will chase experiences that you desire you may have earlier hesitated to say yes to.

Clear the space for bold actions, by saying no. And don’t be afraid to walk away, burn bridges so that you don’t go back to what no longer serves a purpose.

Boldness instigates progress, movement and growth for ourselves and for the people around us. Bold actions, help us get further ahead, faster! Now what is that one bold action that you would like to commit to this week or this month?