What Is The Worst That Can Happen?

How many times have we asked ourselves this question – What is the worst that can happen? And because of just this one question, how many times have we stopped ourselves from doing something we really wanted? How many times have we sat and contemplated and catastrophised all worst-case scenarios, allowed fear to get the better of us and then just run back to our comfort zones? Countless times, right?

At the end of this month, I’m going to be running a workshop for a group of women, primarily mums, on fulfilment and goal setting for 2019. I spent some time today planning the event, tools and frameworks that I want to use. Quite often, when I talk to groups or work with clients on their goals and help them move out of their comfort zones, I can sense panic and very often see people going over all their worst-case scenarios to the extent that it hinders their growth. And that got me thinking. So, I left my preparation and opened my laptop to write this short post as I feel this topic is really important.

So today, I’m going to re-frame the term worst-case scenario. Hear me out. Let’s say you want to be an entrepreneur. I’m using this example, as many women I work with are mumpreneurs, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs or aspiring ones. So, consider this - you are an entrepreneur and you invest money in your business and that business doesn’t work out the way you want it to. Your first month after the launch things don’t kick off, you have poor sales for the first 6 months or you face production issues and you need to pivot to make changes. You face countless hurdles that you need to overcome. My friends, is all this really worse than not having tried? That is the question that I really want you to explore.

I’m asking you to give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Explore what the cost will be when you don’t even give yourself the opportunity to try what you want or to live your purpose. Think of all the successful people you know or have admired or read about. Their worst-case scenario was not their risk of running up their credit cards to start their business out of a garage, or their ducks not aligning perfectly or the various other risks they’ve had to take or deal with their many failures. Their worst-case scenario actually was – had they not decided to do what they truly wanted, they wouldn’t have shown up in their life and created all the amazing value they’ve created.

I can share this with you with total honestly. There are so many things I’ve done in my life and tried that didn’t go well. Where I didn’t succeed, but from each experience and failure I grabbed lessons. Lessons I use everyday to thrive in my life. And I know that I’m going to fail so many more times but that will not stop me from going after what I want and creating the change that I’m here to create.

So here’s the bottom-line. If you are ready to push past what you think are the worst-case scenarios in your head, if you are ready not let fear hold you back, be ready to learn from failures and put yourself in front of the world, things may actually work out. You just might create the exact life you want! You might create that successful business, be the author of a bestseller, make the money you want, create change and live your purpose from that place of fulfilment.

And are you willing to take that risk? Or are you willing to be so frightened that you don’t give yourself that opportunity? My, friends, that is the worst-case scenario, and don’t let your life be the worst-case scenario.

I'm Poornima Nair, Certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Founder of Live Authentic Coaching and a Mentor with The Cherie Blair Foundation. If you are curious about coaching, interested in being nurtured, inspired and pushed to your edge, to discover and create the relationships, career, lifestyle, finances you are longing for, please reach out to me for a taster of what great coaching does to foster the clarity, mindset, qualities and skills that will allow you to breakthrough.