How Daring Are You?

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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hello, everybody, great to have you with me here today. Have you ever noticed the behaviour of children? Now you might want to do this exercise? Observe how curious they're how they try out new flavours and adventures and discover something new every day. They fall. And they arise just as quickly. Now observe the behaviour of adults. You know, why is it that we are so afraid of taking risks? Many reasons for that I'll cover some of them today. But of course, what we're talking about today is really calculated risks. We're not talking about, you know, jumping off a cliff, without a parachute, right? We're not recommending any of that what we're talking about here is smart, strategic, or tactical risk-taking, that is basically planned. And at times, if it's not planned, at least, it's not going to be the end of the world if something fails. So our chat today will be about daring to fail. And I want to know, you know, I want you to just consider this for yourself. How daring Are you? And when did we put a curious childlike playfulness aside and become adults? When did we do that? And what time you know, at what stage of our lives? And why? These are some of the questions you might want to ask yourself, and what risks are we now afraid to take right now? What are we afraid to take? You know, and it could be all sorts of examples that I will share with you in a second. Its effect on society, together with, of course, our past experiences, family, the education system, et cetera, influences the path we should take. And at times, we follow this path consciously or unconsciously, even if it's not in the best interest of us, you know, and all the best options. And what that means is because of our conditioning, since we're little kids, we take on roles, we take on experiences, we take on all sorts of behaviours, actions, and so on that at times, might not be the most effective for us moving forward, but we just take it on, because it's the way it is it might have happened like that in the past, including, you know, professions that your father might have had, or your mother might have had your grandfather, etc. With that consider what's actually the best course for my life, as opposed to somebody from the past. And this is where risk-taking comes into play. And of course, the concept of daring to fail because you've got to, you know, you've got to, you've got to embrace daring to fail, again, because it's part, of the course, your transformation in learning how to also take on risk, and be okay with it. Have you ever stopped to think about how many times you have risked something in your life? And risk can be a conversation with that person at the bar, you know, sending a resume for a job opportunity, travelling to an unknown place, or changing a profession. Other ones are typical, pitching to investors, you know, selling your product, public speaking, et cetera, et cetera. So can you imagine if you didn't take the risk? What hope have you had, specifically with some of the examples I've just shared with you, and whether successful or not, they're all part of our life, if we like it or not taking risks without taking risks, of course, humanity will never have evolved. And I'm not saying that caution is harmful like I noted at the outset, but at some point in our trajectory, it is essential to get out of our comfort zone and risk zone and take our best shot. And by that, I mean sometimes you got to dare to fail, yes, sometimes you will fail. But as long as you've planned it, you've given it, you know, your best estimation of where this could land, okay, what's wrong with, you know, specifically going into action with that? And sometimes you might have to do it on your feet in an emergency or in a crisis. Okay. That's also part of what we're talking about today. You might not have had a lot of time to think about it at that moment because you might not have been so planning, but also been open to that possibility. Okay, because no one goes out there.
purposely to fail. Remember what I said, it's about giving it your best shot. So that's the key here, you know, be open to that. And of course, take the shots as they come. But the question is, how do you know? When is the best time today? Well, look, I have no doubt, at some point in your life, you felt that you were not in the right job, you know, that a certain friendship was not doing you any good. You know, your business needed better systems to grow among so many other situations. So the answer is when you feel this discomfort, and the discomfort will definitely you will feel this, you will fill in in your body, okay, something will be sort of talking to you, your gut, your intuition, etc, other than, of course, your own observations, you are constantly asking questions, and you believe that you need to try something new, this is a time to take a risk, a calculated risk, that being in PASI of all of this, of course, is that we spend time and energy on these questions, and don't really focus on taking the actual action. Also, most of the time, as you know, our fears, simply unfounded, and deprives us of great opportunities, and also new possibilities that we don't even know exist, okay, because we don't know what we don't know, unless we get into action. So that's the key here, it's about basically, action, action action. And we know this again, in my past episodes, you know, what really works, of course, is your imagination, you're creating possibilities. And of course, being in action, you know, that's the key here, you want to basically get a positive, healthy, mental well being, Mind, Body Spirit, get into imagination, get into creating, okay, creating versus creative, right, although there is, you know, distinctions that are sort of different than similarities. And of course, the final one is action. And the action is the key here. And of course, that's part of the risk taking. So taking a risk doesn't mean, you have to throw it all away and start from scratch. So I'm not talking about burning the boats here, right? That's another form of risk taking, this is not what I'm talking about today, it means that you can start today, you know, taking small or large steps towards a change you want, from my experience, I have a few tips that can help you. And specifically, part of that is from a cognitive point of view, if you've got so much fear, around getting into action, ie risk taking daring to fail, then you can deal with that as well. Because specifically, it could be conscious, but most likely it's unconscious, it's something that's, you know, that you're not even thinking about, it can actually be dealt with, if you need to specifically, move it along. Because if it's holding you back, of course, and you're sort of paralyzed in fear, in reference to actioning things, then of course, that might be something you might need to look at. My second tip is to know that you will, at some point, make a mistake, okay? And what we say around that is just own it, you know, and dare to give it your best shot anyway. That's the reality. Okay, give it your best shot anyway. But keeping this in mind, you're able to get around adverse situations. And the bottom line that, you know, the greatest learnings always come from our past mistakes and what our mistakes, real actions, that's what they were, and the learning lessons we pick up from that experience is really the key here. And you know, I respect people highly. You know, it's a sign society sets you up that you're constantly talking about all the how successful you are, you know, and of course, if you look on social media and the fakery that goes on with that, you know, successes, you know, your Lamborghini, you know, there's beautiful partners all around you. And, of course, this mansion that really is photoshopped or rented out for the photoshoot, is not the type of stuff we're talking about here. This is about authentically, authentically, basically, using the lessons of failure or success, okay, and basically actioning this in your life, and from a way that's actually gonna resonate, and be embedded in you, as opposed to just pretend, you know, you're taking these risks and all the fake stories around, you know, online, where you do get a lot of these so-called fake failures. That's really part of a storytelling conversation, and you've got a question if they really happen, I'm talking about really owning some of your potential risks in taking a chance and really going for it. And my last tip for today, when thinking about taking a risk on something, it's okay to think about what can go wrong. Okay. My advice is simple. Create a plan B to deal with it, in case psychologically, you'll discover that it's a comforting tactic in case things go pear-shaped. It's good to know that okay,
If this doesn't go, Well, what's my plan? B? What else do I do, and this is important, if you certainly, you know, have the field, get into the action potentially failing, okay? If that's the case, then what's your plan B. So set your intention, of course, on everything that it will be positive, again, that will be created and focus your attitude, you know, focus your attitude to get that, that win in this case. And by that, you know, it's about, you know, starting off your day, as I've mentioned, many, many times before, you know, with whatever works for you. So it could be meditation, it could be exercise, it could be journaling, whatever works for you, there's an opportunity for yoga, Qigong, when half, whatever works for you. And that's the key here. So you set your set up your day, that from the moment you wake up, breakfast, et cetera, that so you know that it's all fairly clear. And then you take on the day that whatever is going to come up, including some of the risk elements that might come up, assuming they do as per our chat today, you can actually deal with them with a comma, sense of being, and of course, an opportunity to just go in the flow. So, for today, that's the end of our chat. And, of course, as usual, I will kindly ask you to rate the show on Apple podcast. And if you do, and once you do, please send us an email confirmation and we will send you a book, The Real World Guide to authentic personal branding. You can find me on social media. My Twitter is Jon_Michail, my LinkedIn is Jon Michail, and on Facebook as Image Group International. Thank you all for today, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Have a great week. Cheers. 

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists, based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.