Do you remember the 2009 movie Julie and Julia? It intertwined Julia Child’s story (played by Meryl Streep) of her start in the cooking profession with blogger Julie Powell’s story (played by Amy Adams) of a self-imposed challenge to cook all the recipes in Child’s first book. Julie dared herself to do it. Based on a true story, what started as a daily commitment to blogging turned into a book and then a movie.
That is the power of daring yourself to do something
Of course you are in charge of your life. But it’s easy to stay within the realm of the familiar. Especially as we mature (you know what I mean!). Dares and challenges, even when we create them ourselves, can force us out of our comfort zones. And that’s always where growth happens.
Like SMART goals but more interesting.
If you like business charts and metrics, you could liken a dare to SMART goals. But a dare might not initially be tied to a specific business measurement. “Video is the future of marketing” was the impetus for me to say, “I dare you to do a live stream show once a week for a year.” A month into year two, I’m producing shows for other clients now as well and have met so many new people during a year of lock down at home.
The dare allows you to take action first and build attraction, energy and momentum from there.
Sales, pop culture, learning new things…
Do you want to know what’s current in pop-culture? Commit to watching a YouTube video of a current group every Thursday. You might even end up with a crush on the K-pop boy band BTS (blush emoji).
Sales is always an area for dares. Hard core salespeople will tell you that you must make a minimum of ten cold calls a day or you will never succeed. How about a commitment to calling one person a week to ask for business? Start with your mom and go from there. Ask this week’s call for ideas on whom to call next week. Excruciating? Maybe. Will you get better at defining what you are asking for and who your target is over time? Absolutely!
A colleague who wants to be better at sales has accepted a 30-day challenge to do one live video a day. Even something as broad as wanting to be a nicer person can be a dare. I dare you to give one authentic compliment to someone every day. Do it for one week. Then add another.
Replace “how dare you!” with “I dare you!”
It’s easy to be reactive. It’s simple to think no-one cares or that it doesn’t matter. However, the dare is a challenge between you and yourself. Make it fit to you—everyday challenges are awful to me. So maybe it’s a 10-time challenge. I’ll listen to 10 new musical artists over the next 2 months. It’s less about discipline and more about expanding horizons through action.
What will you dare yourself to do? Writing it down, sharing it with someone, is a great way to jump start accountability and commitment.