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By Steve Wells

After a fairly lacklustre season my local Aussie Rules football team now has a real chance of playing finals because in the last couple of weeks they've been taking more risks, and those risks have brought rewards with two great wins. In the words of one of the players "We have nothing to lose from taking the game on".

Earlier in the year, by their own admission, the team had gone a bit "conservative", and this resulted in some of the worst football I've ever seen. Now they look good and assuming they keep playing like this they just may see some finals action.

As a friend said to me once when I was dithering on taking some steps forward "Are you playing the game to win, or are you playing the game not to lose?"

Playing not to lose must be one of the strongest ways of increasing the likelihood that you actually will lose, because you are holding the images and the energy of losing in your body and mind. Your fear saps your power. This doesn't apply just in sports, it applies in any area of life, and has been especially prevalent in business since the global financial crisis (GFC).

My friend Ian Berry describes this beautifully in his recent blog post included below with his permission:

A client of mine has faced several serious challenges since the GFC. Survival has taken its toll on him, his family, and many of his employees.

In a recent conversation I asked him “Do you want to continue to survive or do you want to thrive?” He looked at me perplexed.

I said “I honour your resilience. You will need to remain resilient. The road to thriving requires different feelings in the heart, thoughts in the mind, and different actions than those on the road to surviving.”

My client responded with a look that expressed both relief and anxiety.

We then discussed how his disposition had changed dramatically from the glory days of just a few years ago to the last few years. He had gone from positive to negative, proactive to reactive, creative to conservative.

We talked about how tired everyone had become, the low morale, and the disengagement of many employees.

“We have to change.” my client said with a quiver in his voice. “All change is personal first.” I said.

I am working with my client on 8 ways to move from resilience to remarkable.

I have written a white paper about the 8.  Click here for details on how to get your free copy.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian Berry

I encourage you to get Ian's white paper, it has some excellent ideas. And visit his blog.

Like Ian,  I've seen a lot of business clients who still carry the effects of the Global Financial Crisis in their nervous systems. They may not be conscious of it but it insidiously works away on them, diminishing their confidence and causing them to play a more conservative, defensive game. When they come to me for help they are worn out from the energy required to play the game this way. They are frustrated, angry at themselves and the world, wanting to win but not realising that as long as they still hold that fear image inside them and allow it to distract them from the potential of winning the game they will continue to be held back.

This is where Simple Energy Techniques (SET) can change the game.

Remove that fear-based blockage from your nervous system / energy system and you can reconnect with the bigger game of what you want in your life, what dreams you still have and the possibilities you can create if you go for it.

After reading Ian's article last week I did some SET tapping on my own negative associations to the global financial crisis, and that freed me up to see how on many levels I'd been playing a defensive game too! Even though it happened 6 years ago I realised the GFC had been pretty traumatic to our business and to my family's financial security. The fear it could come again WAS still there in the back of my mind, and the energy of that was infecting many of the projects I was willing to take on. After tapping I felt much more willing to take risks that previously would have challenged me and this week I've made 10 corporate follow-up calls (and counting) and re-initiated discussions with some old corporate clients. So I highly encourage you to do some tapping as I've outlined below.

Consider the possibility that the effects of the GFC may be still in your nervous system influencing all your business and financial decisions. If you've been playing a conservative game that is almost certainly the case. Until you release the pain of that experience and the fear it could happen again, you'll continue to be held back and you won't take risks that could help you to grow.

How to use SET to release your fear and play a bigger game:

1. Treat yourself by tapping for the trauma of the GFC,  its effects on your business and your personal finances, and the fear that it could happen again. Tap for your sense of failure and frustration and any negative emotions.

2. Then refocus again on the possibility of success. Consider what would happen if you played a bigger game. Think about what risks you'd be willing to take if you were not scared of failing.

3. Notice if, when you think about taking risks and playing to win there are still any objections, blocking beliefs or negative feelings that come to mind and if any do apply more tapping to them.

4. Keep doing this until you can think about success, think about taking positive risks (not foolish ones) and the energy flows, until the feeling is more yes than no. (The ultimate is what I call 100% YES! ® where no parts of you are holding back. For now, just aim to reduce the fear enough to get you to act!).

Finally, getting over your fears may also mean treating your fear of success along with your fear of failure. I've had several coaching clients recently who I discovered were unconsciously playing the game not to win because of pressures and challenges that might come to them if they did win. This led to a lot of frustration and spinning their wheels. With tapping and values work we have been able to free them up to get back on track for their big goals by releasing the negative attachments they previously associated with winning and reconnecting them with the source of their power.

The take-home?

Play to win, it's a lot more fun. There are no guarantees that you will win when you do this, but you'll gain access to a lot more of your resources and enjoy the game a lot more!

Need help to turn your results around?

Come to one of our transformational live workshops

Check for occasional openings in Steve's exclusive coaching and mentoring program

100% YES! is our registered trademark

Want to learn more?

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