Dragons of Initiation
We’ve talked about our Hero’s Journey in our last couple of posts. After the Call to Awaken, the excitement, and energy are high: the hope and anticipation of what’s to come! Inevitably, as the hero sets out on his or her journey, there are obstacles – dragons - along the way. No hero has a smooth path.
Dragons get in our way, impede our progress, and seek to take us away from our mission. Today we revisit one of the most common dragons that we see: the dragon in the mirror.
Yes…sometimes we get in our own way.
So often, we are our most challenging dragon. We question ourselves: are we good enough? Smart enough? Equipped for the task in front of us? We work with so many men and women who face these questions every day. Even people who are in senior roles with industry-leading companies look in the mirror and wonder: am I enough?
Our answer is a resounding YES! In our experience, the people who face the dragon of self-doubt are often the very people who others describe as “amazing,” “accomplished,” or “a real role model.”
How can you help bridge the gap?
One of our favorite reads is “The Big Leap” where author Gay Hendricks describes this “dragon of self-talk” as an “Upper Limit Problem.”
His concept is interesting – the “Upper Limit” refers to the maximum amount of positive feelings we’ve been programmed to allow ourselves to feel before we subconsciously “dial down” our happiness level.
This can show up as a worry – worrying if you’re ready, or capable, or what people will think. If you find yourself facing this dragon, grab a copy of “The Big Leap”.
You can also start by asking yourself these four questions:
1. Am I willing to increase the amount of time every day that I feel good inside?
2. Am I willing to increase the amount of time that my whole life goes well?
3. Am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time?
4. Am I willing to take the Big Leap to my ultimate level of success?
As you begin to unpack your dragons, observe your patterns. Part of what we do as coaches is teach people how to coach themselves. How to catch yourself in the moment: when the going gets tough, how can you recognize your patterns, tendencies, and triggers?
We teach people what to do when they encounter these tendencies. We use the concept of pattern interrupts: recognizing a tendency or pattern and interrupting it to do something different.
