Get Out of Your Box

In my recent blog "What I learned in 2010" http://workingmomsontherun.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-i-learned-in-2010.html I forgot one of the most important lessons I learned.   I was faced with taking on a new position with my current company and was really unsure about accepting it. To say that I was uncomfortable would be hugely understated. Knowing how hard a time I was having and knowing I needed a push my husband left me this note when he left for work in the morning:

Of course, he was right. You'll never know who you can become if you always play it safe. In order to maximize your growth and see how far you can go you must become comfortable being uncomfortable. You may be looking at where you are right now and thinking to yourself "I have done pretty ok not taking any risks." That may be true, but where could you be if you had taken more risks along the way? You'll never know. The only way to know is to put yourself out there and see what happens.
How can you do this?
-Volunteer for assignments at work.
- Ask your supervisor if they had a magic wand and could have one thing done what would it be.
-Attend a local networking function.
-Volunteer to publicly speak for a charity, school, or youth group.
It's tough at first, but once you start it will soon become natural. As Steve Jobs said in his famous commencement speech, "you can only connect the dots looking backwards." Who knows where you can take yourself. Someday you can look back at the risks you took and be proud of where they have taken you.