It’s okay to be afraid, but when is fear not helpful anymore?
In life, there are things that we encounter that might be too scary or a bit overwhelming. We are often scared of change, and we doubt our strength to try something new to the point that we no longer give ourselves the chance to discover our potential to grow. The good thing is we CAN do something about our fear - we can face it and grow stronger through the process.
As we overcome our fears, we are getting stronger mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically, as well. We learn to stand up (figuratively and literally) during the times that we fail, and we learn from the lessons life teaches us. In episode 304, Nikki shares her experiences with stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) and how she practices the three C’s in her life.
Listen to how Nikki was able to embrace some really big moves in her business and in life using these three C’s. Also, check out all our past episodes from seasons 1 and 2, the first three episodes of season 3 here.
Keep Thriving!
Thriving Points:
- Sometimes you encounter delays as you are pursuing your goals and you just have to roll with the punches and be flexible.
- A guide, coach, or mentor is vital to help you learn the lay of the land, develop good habits and learn the basics.
- Courage is not about being fearless. It’s about having fear, feeling that fear, and taking that leap anyway.
- Life is about learning something new every day, even if it's a small thing, and actually putting it into practice.
About the Show:
Women Thriving in Business features candid unscripted conversations with entrepreneurs, business experts, authors, and academics aimed at contributing to business success. This weekly show provides interviews with business leaders who have built, grown, and are thriving in business. Nikki A. Rogers, host of the show, also discusses achievements, lessons learned, and advice for aspiring business owners to develop the mindset, strategies, and connections necessary to thrive in business. Whether you are just starting or you have been in business for decades, WTiB offers inspiration, strategies, and resources to help you THRIVE in business.
About the Host:
Nikki is a strategist and transformation coach who believes life is too short not to do what you love. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build sustainable companies and supports business leaders in developing the mindset, strategy, and connections to create thriving businesses and build legacy wealth.
Nikki is the CEO of The Bladen Group and an alumna of North Carolina A&T State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Connect with Nikki:
A Team Dklutr Production
Nikki Rogers: Welcome to this week's episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcast. This is your host, Nikki Rogers, and today's episode is a solo one in which I share my recent experience with standup paddleboarding, and just why it's so important that you learn something new every day. Check out this episode where I talk further about my three C's: curiosity, courage, and confidence, and how this paddleboarding experience allowed me to practice all three. I hope you'll enjoy. Let's go!
Welcome Thrivers to this week's episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcast. Today is going to be a bit of a different episode. I just want to share with you how I'm focusing on the three C's that I've been talking about a lot lately. And those three C's being courage, curiosity, and confidence.
I decided during a recent vacation that I was going to try something new. I think this is something that we should all be doing. Learning something new, trying something new on a daily basis. But I decided to learn something new to reinforce what I've been working on over the last several months, actually.
I have been working out with a trainer over the last, I would say, three months really consistently. And in doing that work with the trainer, it really has been more than just the physical training. It has really been about getting stronger mentally, emotionally, as well as physically. And with that, it has enabled me to embrace some really big moves in my business and in life.
In addition to the physical training, part of that is just really being committed to doing those workouts on a daily basis. Being committed to focusing on just living healthier, whether it be what I'm eating or just what the environment that I choose to be in and the people I choose to hang around, the conversations that I'm having on a daily basis. It is really all of those things. And that goes along with really practicing that curiosity, courage, and confidence on a daily basis. So I decided during my recent vacation that I was going to try to stand up paddle boarding. If you all have never seen standup paddle boarding, it's like being on a surfboard, a little bit wider than a surfboard, and you actually have a big paddle that is guiding you through the water. And you're standing up on this board, and paddling on the water.
I had never done it before, so this was an opportunity to practice curiosity, learn a new skill, and have some fun out on the water. So I asked two friends to go along with me, and we did, and we had a great time out on the water. But there were a couple of hiccups along the way. So the first day, we had made a reservation for lessons and we got there, and we're told that the guide did not show up. So we were delayed by a day in taking the lesson. That's what happens sometimes. Sometimes you encounter delays as you are pursuing your goals, and you just have to roll with the punches and be flexible and realize that what is for you is actually going to be there, whether it's today or tomorrow, or even next week.
Fortunately, we only had to wait till the next day for another lesson that was going to be happening. Interestingly enough, when we got there the next day, there was actually a group of folks. So there were four other people who went out with us, and it really made for a delightful time. We had a great guide who was patient and very knowledgeable about not only paddle boarding, but also the environment that we were in. She was an excellent guide in helping us get started on the paddle boards and develop our confidence in taking the paddle boards out and trying new stances and new things as we were out on the paddle boards.
So that leads me to the next lesson I learned is that a guide is important whether it's in business, whether it is in life. If you're playing a sport or whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish in life, a guide, a coach or mentor, is important and vital to help you really learn the lay of the land. Develop good habits and learn the basics. Just learn the basics from someone who's already done it before, and then you're able to leap frog into the hard stuff.
So our guide got us on our boards, showed us how to paddle, showed us how to balance, and then once we were able to do that easily, she showed us some of the other tricks of the trade, so to speak. So our guide was able to do a headstand while on her paddleboard. And while I didn't necessarily try that trick out, the other thing she did was just tell us how to do various stands and stances on the board, as well as if you were to leap off the board into the water to take a quick swim or cool off a bit. She showed us how you could easily get back on the board, and get back on your journey.
It's always great to have a guide to get you started and point you in the right direction. Now, it's good to have a guide but you also have to trust your instincts because ultimately at the end of the day, you were on that board by yourself. And so you really have to have confidence in your ability to stay balanced and your ability to recover if you were to fall off the board or jump off the board. You have to have confidence in your ability to paddle your way out of a situation. So ensure that you're going, you have to paddle in the direction that you want to go. So it is all about understanding that when you paddle on the left side and you're pushing the water back, that's actually going to make you turn right. Versus if you're paddling on the right side, that's going to make you turn left. So you have to understand the levers both in your business and in life, in general, that are going to help you stay on the path that you want to go on, and point you in the direction, and actually propel you in the direction that you want to go.
Again, it's important to have a guide but you have to actually rely on your own instinct, your own knowledge, and be confident that you're going in the right direction. And I would say the other thing is really about the courage to take the leap in the first place. So since I had suggested this outing, my friends volunteered me to be the first person to get on the board. As I was getting on the board, there was this transition from being on the dock and on dry land to actually be on the board on the water.
As I was transitioning, I realized that because I was the first one to go out there, that I was going to be out there waiting for the others to get on their boards and get situated so that we could actually start along our journey on the water that day. So there's this moment of a little bit of anxiety, mixed with fear as I was moving from dry land to getting on this, what I considered a very wobbly board, that now I was going to have to manage and control. So courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about having the fear, of feeling the fear and taking that leap anyway.
And so I'd set that leap, metaphorically because it was really more of a very careful step over and transition, and get my balance in order to be on the board. And so, it was a great time. It was a great learning experience. I really took away from it. The idea of balance and things being in harmony. So not only balancing my body on the board but balancing my thoughts and my bouncing thoughts and actions as I was paddling on this body of water. And being conscious of the balance between humans in the environment, we saw a couple of herons that are a part of that ecosystem. Just take a look at them and just realizing how much balance the environment provides home and provides resources for so many creatures.
The second thing was about having a guide but trusting your instincts. And really the main takeaway is that it just reinforced this idea that you should be learning something new every day, even if it's a small thing, but learning something new every day and then actually putting it into practice. I think this stand-up paddleboarding adventure encompasses all those things.
It was learning and practicing and doing all at the same time in order to make this all happen. So I would love to hear from you all about what it is that you are learning every day or something that you want to learn on a daily basis. Something that you are attempting, something that you're trying, and really, how are you practicing curiosity, confidence, and courage on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?
Hit me up in the comments, I love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this episode, please check out all of our past episodes from seasons one and two, and the first three episodes of season three. And please subscribe, like and review. Love to hear from you, love to hear your thoughts, and check us out next week for the next episode of Women Thriving in Business Podcast. Take care, and keep thriving.