No Guts, No Glory!

JoAnna Brandi

I’m not sure who said it – No Guts, No Glory – but I do believe it’s true.

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone and you’ll never get it without stretching or taking a few risks.

Becoming a positive leader (in your life and in your business) requires trying things that are often un-comfortable, unfamiliar, and for business, unusual. Positive leaders look for the good, foster positive emotion at work, practice forgiveness and compassion and focus on strengths and not weakness – that’s way out of the how-we-do-things-around-here comfort zones of most businesses.

Why is it so hard to move outside of our comfort zones?

Fear – we are afraid of what we imagine is out there.

I see it this way.

Just at the perimeter of our comfort zone is a ring of fear. Often it’s that fear that keeps us from moving out of out comfort zones into our stretch zones.

Often it’s our fear that designates our stretch zone as a “panic zone” and keeps us tucked safely inside.

I wonder. What if we could see that fear as an illusion?

What if we could see fear itself as often being just False Expectations Appearing Real?

What if we could make it a practice to challenge those fears? What if we could routinely expand and outgrow our comfort zones?

What if?

Positive practices – like moving past our comfort zones with positive empowering questions – are important to do every day, because one day, when we least expect it we’ll need the skill. And for us, it will be there, well rehearsed and ready to use.


JoAnna Brandi is President of JoAnna Brandi & Company, and author of several books. Copyright 2012. Author retains copyright. All Rights Reserved.

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