How can you motivate yourself and get the courage to push yourself out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks?

What motivates you to try something you have not done before? What gives you the courage to take risks, make unpopular decisions, or go against the tide?

I recently attended a leadership training, and one of the exercises was to write a speech that your boss would give about you at your retirement party. What would you want your boss to say about you looking back at your career? Would you not prefer having taken risks and not having to wonder ‘what if’?

Image courtesy of Teerapun / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Trying to write this speech about yourself feels like a wake-up call (without a snooze button), and you suddenly think of all the things you should have already done by now. It hit me that the best time to start making a change and stop being afraid would have been a long time ago, and that the second best time is right now. It’s like trying to write your own review, you are more critical and tough on yourself than your boss would ever be (unless you are seeing yourself in the victim role in which of course you are right all the time and everyone else around you wrong).

While I strongly believe I did accomplish a lot over the last couple of years, improved a lot of things here and there, and made changes that are consistent with the concept of the service profit chain, I knew right then and there that I had not nearly done as much as I could have.

I knew that while I have done a lot, I could have done more, am clearly not satisfied and want to do a lot more before I leave or before anyone is giving a speech about me. I suddenly had the strong desire and will to face and tackle any challenge straight on without trying to make any excuses and no matter how intimidating it may seem. Having to write my own retirement speech gave me endless energy, passion and a clear focus not to waste anymore time going through the process, but to do the right thing and make a difference, no matter how far out of my comfort zone I would have to push myself.

Take a piece of paper and start writing your retirement speech. How would you like to be remembered?