Jillian’s September Post: Building Risk – Taking Muscle – the Fun Way!

In these challenging times, when many of us require new levels of resourcefulness to continue to thrive, we need to keep our risk–taking muscle strong.

At a business conference in Fiji last week, I met a successful entrepreneur, Gary, from Australia, who has devised a way to build this muscle and have a great time along the way.

Gary devotes each year to a new theme. For example, 2007 was “Pushing the Envelope.” Each month, he undertook one activity that challenged him. “I went swimming with sharks, abseiling, skydiving three times.” I asked about his take-away from the experience: He said he felt bolder in business. “Meetings didn’t feel quite as challenging after I’d been poked by sharks that weekend.”

Now he’s about to launch a 4–day challenge in Queenstown, New Zealand: every day undertaking an adventure that’ll push his envelope again: “zip lining down a mountain, river rafting, maybe base jumping.”

After meeting Gary, it confirmed my commitment to do something new each month for the next year that’ll push my boundaries. Make me feel uncomfortable, maybe even daunted for a while. It may not be zip lining or base jumping. It could be attending a meeting or volunteering to help someone new, so that, on the other side, I’m also better equipped to handle whatever lies in the road ahead.

What about you? What might you do to stay toned and hardy? I look forward to your emails of ideas. Happy trails!