“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” I first read that sentence in Sheryl Sandberg’s bestseller Lean In. It referred to a quote on a poster at Facebook encouraging employees to take risks. That question inspired me to pursue an Executive Coaching certification and launch my coaching business more than 11 years ago. Anna Quinlan the accomplished writer and former Board Chair for my alma mater Barnard College, the women’s college of Columbia University said that at Barnard she “majored in being unafraid.” Like Anna, I benefited from Barnard’s culture that encouraged women to take risks, reach high and be unafraid to wade into unchartered waters. It was this influence that helped me pursue a successful career in finance despite limited academic or professional experience by telling myself that I could leverage my learning agility to learn a new industry. I am so grateful that once again I found the courage to switch careers from finance to coaching and took the risk to start my own coaching & consulting business. Often, I tell clients to, “get comfortable being uncomfortable, because that’s where the learning and growth happens.” Taking risks is also where innovation happens but sometimes setbacks and failures too.

Many times, I have seen clients especially women leaders get in their own way with self-limiting thoughts and fears. Maybe they are afraid of failure or think their bold new idea will be dismissed or even ridiculed. They may think everyone else has better ideas than they do or that they are bothering a senior executive by reaching out. Peggy Klaus, a leadership coach and author challenges clients to reframe their mindset by asking, “What if you had an abundance of confidence and courage in your life? What would you do, what would you accomplish, how would you feel?” If you have been avoiding taking a risk in your personal or professional life, choose one courageous step that you would like to take. It could be speaking up in a meeting, asking for a stretch assignment, providing constructive feedback to a colleague, or sharing an idea for innovation, or enhancing an internal process to improve productivity or save costs. Peggy shares a four step process to consider using.

Step 1: What are you truly afraid will happen if you take action?

Step 2: What do you hope to achieve?

Step 3: How do you think you will feel when you take action? How do you think you will feel if you don’t take action?

Step 4: Write out specific things you will do or say when you take action.

You can discuss your intended action with a trusted colleague, friend, or coach. You may want to role play the situation with someone and get feedback about what went well and what you might want to change. Make a commitment to take one courageous action step. It doesn’t have to be a bold, dramatic action, it can be a baby step. You may want to keep a journal and write down how you felt during the action and afterwards. Next reflect on the result or impact of your action and what you learned. A thousand mile journey starts with one step.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Share your action step with a colleague, a member of PAI’s Womens Network or in LinkedIn starting with #I would…. Next, pick an accountability partner to hold you accountable to take that courageous action step. Finally, share your success stories with this amazing community of women leaders.