Tag: #steppingoutofyourcomfortzone

Genuine Confidence

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Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash
Story by Fiona based on an interview with Beresford

So how do you go from being a really shy kid to wanting to speak in an auditorium? Beresford has taken that very path!  

As an example of Beresford’s starting point, at about age 20 he was the best man at his cousins wedding, and as we all know part of the best man role is to give a speech. Despite preparing his speech, and knowing his cousin quite well, Beresford “just froze and I couldn’t even open my mouth. I just stood there, and it seemed endless. I just didn’t say anything. In the end I ended up saying ‘the bridesmaids look good’. And I walked off. Those are the only words that came out of my mouth. And it was really embarrassing.” 

At this point many people would just decide public speaking was not for them! But Beresford was motivated to improve. His dad was an excellent and sought after public speaker – both rehearsed and off the cuff.  After some research it was suggested that Beresford try Toastmasters.  And a mere 15-20 years later he joined. 

Through Toastmasters Beresford has not just gained confidence, but also skill. His first speech “didn’t come out the way I wanted it to, it was kind of bland. There wasn’t a lot of energy.” 

Beresford is working on bringing out his personality more when he speaks, he is motivated to keep getting better and better at public speaking, as well as his goal to speak to an audience of over 1000 people. 

Part of the motivation for Beresford, aside from wanting to improve himself, is to help other people develop as well. “I’m one of the mentors for the Melbourne University programme. I’m one of the panel members, helping young people develop their capabilities and skills. It’s not only for myself, but it’s also for others that I try to share my knowledge.” 

Beresford also spoke to me about how building his confidence in public speaking has made him more confident to take on other challenges. 

In 2019 Beresford was one of the new Ways of Working coaches at Telstra, a role you had to put in an expression of interest for. “Being a coach involves changing people’s mindset. Which is not easy to do. It’s a different aspect of your confidence, because previously it’s being confident to go up and speak in front of a group of people, but now it’s actually speaking to a person individually, and changing that person’s mindset.  

“The way I’ve handled things in the past was someone’s got their mindset, and I just told them what my opinions are. And it’s up to them to change if they wanted to. But now being in the Agile ways of working, and the company has gone in a certain direction, it’s more that I have to make sure they are moving in that direction.” 

The rewards of coaching can also be more delayed than giving a speech – one example Beresford gave me was working with someone for 6 weeks before having a breakthrough “After six weeks, they said ‘oh yeah, I can start to see the benefits. Now even though we are building code, we can still talk to our colleagues every day for about 15 minutes. And at least try and understand what the blockers are and we can remove those blockers’”. 

Beresford had an interesting take away from that experience “And what I realised was, if you tell someone once, it kind of goes in one ear and out the other. But if you keep telling them the same thing, they start to believe it. So, if I tell someone, ‘you’re an idiot’? First time, it’s just goes in and out. But if I keep telling them the same thing over and over again, they start to believe it.” Makes you think about what messages we are putting out there. 

Confidence was a common theme throughout Beresford’s chat with me, but he also talked about being genuine. “People need to be able to trust you. Because you can have all the confidence in the world, right? If you go to a car yard, the car salesman has got a lot of confidence, but I don’t trust them. So you may have the confidence but you still have to be genuine. People can pick that up pretty easily.” 

If you are considering stepping out of your comfort zone, Beresford has some advice for you: “Know your weaknesses and don’t procrastinate – commit!” 

About Beresford:
Beresford is a fellow Ways of Working coach at Telstra. He is also passionately involved at Toastmasters

Rappelling Part 5 – Jumps two and three!

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Photo by Edu Lauton on Unsplash
Story by Fiona (me)

Once all the paying jumpers were on the ground floor Troy leapt spectacularly from the roof to the ground – 100% faith in his son to stop him before he hit the ground. The sight was awe-inspiring in the truest sense.

Another nervous jumper and I received wonderful hugs from Troy, as a congratulations and well done. I will be honest – it felt great!

Then it was back up to the roof for jump 2 of 3. I was looking forward to it.

Until Troy told us he was upping the ante!

Jump 2 we were given the option of jumping off a standing position, on top of the wall, toes hanging over, leaning forward 45 degrees… oh my goodness!

Then, we were told we could walk down to the first of 3 flags then push off from the wall, loosen our hands and jump to the next flag!

This time around I waited further back in the group, until I realised my nerves were getting worse.

Troy must have sensed my fear as he called me up. To my shock he didn’t ask if I was going to stand, we laughed about the fact that there was zero chance of that happening. I also decided not to do the jumping. It seemed like a complexity I didn’t need!

Round 3 was the fun round. Nothing new to learn. I applied my learnings – don’t wait too long (I went third) and I also decided to do a couple of jumps. It is possible I was motivated by having sore hands from holding on so tight, but regardless of why – I jumped down a section of the wall! Twice.

The high from all the adrenaline lasted longer than the hour Troy predicted.

I apologise publicly to everyone I spoke to in the few hours following – I may have been a bit hyper and spoken a few too many words per minute!

If you are thinking about stepping out of your comfort zone may I suggest Rap Jumping? The feeling of achievement when you have done it is amazing – but doesn’t beat the joy of walking down a wall!

Rappelling Part 4 – My Rap Jump

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Photo by youssef naddam on Unsplash
Words by me (Fiona)

Troy and I were in agreement that I had to go next before my nerve deserted me entirely, so I stepped up to the bottom of the steps. My harness (all three buckles), my gloves and my helmet were checked. The brake and the rope were attached, and I held the rope loosely (possibly…).

Troy checked the previous person was out of the way and then it was time for me to walk up the stairs.

I did that kind of mindlessly, and then when I got to the top I realised I was not going to be able to proceed.

There was no way I was going to be able to even sit on the edge, and go over? No chance!

I told Troy I was sorry, but I could not proceed. He told me to take my time, and I think I tried to explain that I didn’t need time, I was not able to do it. What I actually said may or may not have resembled that! Troy was the epitome of patience. I had time.

Then he deployed his masterstroke (he told us later that he had studied neuroscience) and asked me what story I wanted to be telling in an hour – that I walked down the wall or that I didn’t walk down the wall. Troy was unaware that I had written a blog committing to jumping, that I was going to have to tell a public story one way or the other, but that question apparently made me think about the future and took my brain out of its hijacked state.

I decided that I did want to proceed after all. So slowly I put my left leg over the wall, sat down and then (with Troy’s help) put my right leg over.

At this stage terror was again my main emotion. I was sitting on a wall 7 stories above the ground, attached to a rope and Troy’s hand on my harness. And I was going forward, not back to the safety of the roof.

And forward I went. As I went off the wall Troy made sure I was in control and I was off. Walking down the wall!

That felt amazing!! I was walking down a 7 story building, loosely holding a rope. I thought (and possibly yelled) “I am so glad I did this”. I could feel my grin.

Near the bottom I stopped on instruction and tried to jump towards my catcher (Troy’s son). He helped me the final few metres and unhooked the rope.

Then I sat down, quite suddenly I think. I was pleasantly surprised how easily the cross legged position was to get into!

Those who had gone before me were full of compliments and reassurance. They were unaware of the delay at the top as they could only see once I sat on the wall!

Apparently, my technique was pretty good.

This story does not end here! Come back tomorrow for jumps 2 and 3 where they upped the ante…

Rappelling Part 3 – On the Roof

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Photo by Gwen Weustink on Unsplash
Words by me (Fiona)

After a bunch of introductions, paperwork checks, exchanges of stories (2 people only found out what they were doing when they arrived!), and late arrivals we headed up to the roof of the 7-story building.

Troy was our main instructor, with 2 people working with him (I know they were Troy’s son and a person on their first day but sadly their names didn’t stick in my overwhelmed brain!), and he delivered our safety instructions as well as some history of rap jumping. I think SAS was mentioned? I do recall that it allowed our armed forces to shoot as they rappelled rather than be vulnerable going down backwards. And it was known around the world as the ‘Aussie Rappell’.

There were white lines painted on the roof, a set of 4ish black wooden steps leading up to the wall on the edge of the roof. A single rope was thrown over the edge of the roof, attached to a frame in the concrete. We were told where we could and could not stand without specific direction (the purpose of the white lines) and then sent over to the row of 9 harnesses.

I hesitated physically for the first time as they showed us how to step into the harness. Once I had it on this would be real. Was I really going to go down from this roof face first attached to a single rope? I decided I was willing to commit to wearing the harness, but must have had that terrified look still as the person helping me tighten the three buckles checked in on how I was feeling. I think my response was ‘sick’. And not in a youthful ‘this is awesome’ way. He warned me that as I came down the wall the harness may press on my stomach so to be aware of that. Luckily the ‘sick’ feeling was more in my head than my belly.

Next we put on out helmets and gloves then lined up parallel to the rope. You would think the mention of how many tonnes the rope could support would reassure me… but it didn’t help much to be honest! At the question ‘who is the most nervous’ I was happy to put up my hand. I doubted anyone else was more scared.

The benefit of being the most nervous was that I was the one who got to test the braking mechanism – hold the rope to brake, let it slide to go – while leaning forward at 45 degrees on the safety of the roof. It held me easily – and even walking forward without it ‘braked’ was an effort.

It was shortly after this that it was time to start. We had a demonstration, it looked easy, but I doubted it was! Walk up the steps, put your left leg over the wall, sit on the wall, put your right leg over, lean forward, walk down the wall. Simple right?

Unlike my willingness to volunteer to be the most nervous, I did not volunteer to be first down the wall! Luckily a few people went before me, but then, by mutual agreement between myself and Troy it was my turn. So up I walked, with shaking knees, to take my turn.

To be continued.

Rappelling Part 2 – The Lead Up

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Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
Words by me (Fiona)

As you may have seen from my part 1 blog on rappelling, from when I saw the gift voucher for this activity I was extremely nervous – feeling lightheaded and nauseous nervous.

So in the week leading up to R-day (aka the day of rappelling) I told many people. I committed publicly any time that the opportunity arose – and in some cases just posted online regarding my plans – and my terror!

Up until the night before I had not done any research. I just knew I was going face first down the outside of a building.

Then the panic really set in. I read the FAQs on the rap jumping site. I measured my waist circumference to ensure I was within the limits. I planned my outfit (dark colours recommended), I wondered why dark colours were recommended! I looked at the images posted of smiling faces as people walked down the wall.

With my time of departure planned, my chosen dark clothing laid out, and my alarm set (just in case!) I went to bed on the Friday night.

And slept soundly until 4am… at 4:15am I was googling instructions for beginner rappelling – most of which were rope tying instructions! At that stage (assuming that I would not be tying my own ropes) – reminding myself that the activity was safe for children as young as 7 – I went back to bed and slept fitfully while dreaming of all the ways I may be expected to get off the roof and onto the wall.

I headed off Saturday morning with plenty of time, found a car park nearby and arrived 15 minutes before the ‘arrive 15 to 30 minutes early’ request. To an empty meeting spot.

We were to meet in the car park, and I spent the next 15 minutes peering around the edge of the building, relocating myself to try and find the perfect position of comfort, shade and visibility of the car park to spy anyone else arriving. R-30mins arrived and I was still alone in the carpark (other than the hostel guest who came out to his car 3 times and gave me odd looks – it is possible the whites of my eyes were showing) so in a panic I called the 1300 number to make sure I was in the right car park. I was. They were on the roof doing their safety checks and would be down soon.

To be continued!

Rappelling Part 1 – a public commitment

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Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash
Words by me (Fiona)

In an unusual move this post has two parts! I have booked in to do rappelling this Saturday and have decided to document here how I am feeling right now.

To put it bluntly I am terrified. To the extent that part of this post is a public commitment to going ahead!

When I got the gift certificate for Christmas I was torn: I felt excitement as it was new, and definitely involved adrenaline, but I also felt terror. Walking face-first down a building is a long way out of my comfort zone.

I am confident I will love it once I have gone over the edge and made the first few steps down the building.

But my stomach is churning and I feel light headed just thinking about those first few steps!

So this is my public commitment to going ahead. Part two to follow next week.

Know your line

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Photo by Alexandre Chambon on Unsplash
Words by Fiona based on an interview with Tanya

I started my conversation with Tanya talking about her amazing business – Girl Shaped Flames – but then she mentioned a time she stepped out of her comfort zone and it didn’t work out. And she kindly allowed me to focus on that part of her experience – but I will start by saying Tanya has had success outside of her comfort zone both before and after this particular experience! 

When Tanya was 24 she got a role as a film production manager in the UK with very little experience and was very good at it! 2 years later and one of her contacts wanted to work with her on a film he was the 1st assistant director on.  

“And he called me up and said, ‘I’m working on another film and It’d be so cool if we could work together again. They already have a production manager on the job, but I wonder if I could find another role for you to come on as.’ 

“And, as it turned out, he managed to wrangle me into a second assistant director role, which is very similar to production manager because essentially you’re in charge of organising things, but the difference is that you’re organising people (and let’s be honest egos.  I was more used to managing resources, crew, logistics etc.” 

“I sort of went into it a little bit naive thinking I can figure the differences in the roles out. I’m sure it’s fine. But very quickly, within a few days of me being there, I started questioning whether I actually knew how to handle the nuances of the job or not.  That partnered with a pretty unsupportive production manager on set who was frustrated that the 1st AD had hired someone inexperienced for the role. I certainly went in just trying to do the best job I could, and it was fairly challenging circumstances. But the whole time I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wasn’t sure whether this was all going to plan. 

“We did six weeks of prep, and then we were supposed to have a six-week shoot, but about three and a half weeks into shooting things just dissolved to a point where I was really struggling in the role. I imagine it was partly a conflict of my skillset not being quite right as well as the challenges presented clashing with the PM.   

“But there came one day where I basically had not been able to give the lead actress the attention that she needed while she was waiting to be called to set, because I was just overwhelmed with other work and I lost track of time really. She was in a very fragile state. She was away from her family. She’s had very  emotional and draining scenes in the film, and she had a bit of a meltdown, essentially.  

“And this was a situation that was really my responsibility to keep under control, and I hadn’t. It all came crashing down on me.  

“So off the back of that it presented a good time for myself and the film to ‘mutually part ways’, which is the polite way of saying that I was pretty much fired because if I hadn’t chosen to go, they were going to have to fire me anyway. 

“That was hands down the most confidence shattering experience that went against all of the beliefs I had in myself and the world. The world where I thought ‘you can take on any challenge, you can throw yourself into anything. If you work really hard, and you try really hard, you will find a way to make things work and succeed’. And the fact that I had done all those things yet it had still not succeeded really shook the foundations of how I functioned as a human being. Two days later (which happened to be my birthday) I got on a plane and flew back to Australia and I hid out at my mum’s house for five weeks, refusing to go back to London because I was so distraught over what this meant – my film career, and my dream, felt over.” 

Tanya has found that processing is critical in recovering from an event like this. “We’re all really quick to say ‘Don’t worry, brush it off, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter. Keep going, it’s all good.’ But that’s not how we work as people. It’s not how we work mentally or emotionally, really, we do need time to process and we need time to cry and be angry and it’s almost like you go through the stages of mourning: denial, bargaining etc until finally you come out the other side of it.” 

Tanya started slowly and, with lots of support, got back into the producer and production manager role that she was confident in. 

I asked Tanya if this experience changed her willingness to set out of her comfort zone, and the answer was that it didn’t necessarily change her willingness, but she is less emotional when she decides to do so “it has definitely made me think a little bit more, consider a bit more thoroughly.” 

But she’s determined to continue to promote confidence development and risk taking within the younger generation coming through. Tanya gives the below advice to high school girls on her Girl Shaped Flames program: 

“What’s really important is developing a very clear understanding of yourself and trying to understand what excites you, what terrifies you, what you’re good at, what you’re not good at, what you like and what you don’t like as early as possible. 

Because the more you do that, and the more you understand yourself, the greater your belief in your capacity becomes – and whether that’s capacity to succeed in a professional environment, or whether it’s capacity to survive in an adventure opportunities. Because when we believe, when we understand our own capacity, it positions us in such a better place to say yes when opportunities that sit outside of our comfort zone arise. 

“One of the talks I give the girls is about your ‘line of perceived ability’. We talk about how you might think that your line of perceived ability is here. If you try this new thing that is over that line, and you don’t reach all the way there, but you reach part way you move your line a little bit further out. That line doesn’t come back. It’s not elastic, it doesn’t snap back, that line stays out.  

“So once you’ve spoken in front of 100 people, you spoke in front of hundred people, no one can take that away. It might not have been 1000 people but it was 100. That is what you know you’re capable of doing. 

“So I guess my advice to people around stepping out of their comfort zone is yes, 100%: do it. But the more you can spend time and effort really developing a solid understanding of yourself and your strengths and passion points, then when you have the opportunity to expand the line further and further out. So eventually so many more things are IN your comfort zone!” 

Awesome advice Tanya! 

A bit about Tanya:

Originating from regional QLD (Yeppoon) Tanya Meessmann is an internationally-experienced Communications, Branding and Film professional and the founder of Girl Shaped Flames: a Brisbane-based organisation connecting Secondary girls with Extraordinary Women across a variety of industries for experiential opportunities that help them identify the fire within and break through limitations to reach their full potential.  Over the past 2 years months she has connected over 2500 girls, parents and educators with over 170 strong, female role models through more than 80 live events across the state.

Being You

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Photo by Brandon Hoogenboom on Unsplash
Words by Fiona based on an interview with Julie

“More concerned about the success of others than their own personal gain” are the words that caught Julie’s attention in the job ad, and I am not surprised as that describes her accurately! 

The fact that Julie was living in San Francisco and the ad was posted by a friend in London about a job in Sydney, it was all too far fetched? However, the idea of getting the job had Julie dreaming about Sydney summers. Quickly followed by ‘who do I think I am? I can’t do this. I’ve never been a tech founder. I’ve worked in start-ups, but you’re crazy.’ 

Serendipitously, Julie then read an HBR article about men applying for jobs when they only have 2 of the 10 criteria, so she decided to at least have the conversation. And ignore the imposter syndrome rearing it’s ugly head. 

Julie has a name for her ‘imposter voice’. I think we all have that voice that says we are not good enough? Julie has named hers Beatrice. Well, Julie quietened Beatrice by taking things one step at a time. ‘You know what, I’m still going to have this conversation. I’m going to talk to Annie. I wasn’t really looking to move or take this job and I was just having the conversation. So, I just kept saying yes, and here I am. 

‘Annie flew me down here [Sydney] when I had my interview. She turned on all the works. It was January so the sun was out. We walked from downtown to Rose Bay and I went stand up paddle boarding in the bay with the Harbour Bridge behind me crystal blue water. She flew me up to Brisbane and I met with Steve Baxter aka Shark of Shark Tank, I had no idea who he was.  

I just decided to show up as myself. We were talking about investing in start-ups and I said “there’s market-based solutions for social impact. We can we can do good and make money at the same time.” And again I did not know Steve Baxter at that point. And I couldn’t understand why everyone was on the edge of their seats hanging on my every word! Steve said “No, no, no, we make our money first, then we give it away”. Which was fine. I’m glad that I showed up in what I believe but also knew not to have continuing argument with him. Steve and I are good friends now.’ 

This was not the first (or last) time Julie stepped out of her comfort zone! Julie helped set up the Salesforce Foundation after meeting Marc Benioff and making such an impression with her advice about his plans that he offered her the role! She moved from Atlanta, where she had been a student, teacher and technology specialist over the span of 12 years, to San Francisco based on the regrets she would have if she didn’t. ‘There is nothing I have to lose’. 

Julie has found that being around the right type of people and energy is really important to her resilience but learning to not try and control things and focusing on seeing the glass as half full help her to bounce back when she finds herself ‘curling up’. 

I asked Julie what drives her to step out of her comfort zone, and her answer was as beautifully original as she is ‘Knowing that there’s support and trying new things. Creating new synapses. Being able to be creative and try that try new things. Being unique. Trying to be the only one doing it so I’m not compared to anyone else. So you don’t have to have that judging. And not being afraid to ask…..’ 

‘When I was in school I was a technology specialist in the middle school. I was the only tech specialist in that school amongst all the teachers. You couldn’t really compare me to anyone else. That’s maybe a safety mechanism. I’m protecting myself. There’s no other bar. I have to set the bar.’ 

I think that is fabulous motivation for trying something new! 

Julie finished off with her passion about celebrating failure. 

‘I’ve become more comfortable [with failure] and when I do talks I get people to be more comfortable with the little tiny mistakes and being okay not to be judged. Think about your body when you make a mistake and what happens – you physically curl up and you change your whole body. Think about times when you won a race or completed something – your body goes big. 

‘It’s a totally different feeling and you can move on and continue. So, next time when you make a mistake how crazy and odd would it be to trick your body into celebrating and throw your arms wide open? It is counterintuitive, but if you physically celebrate your failures you feel differently about them and are more able to go on.’ 

Thank you so much Julie for sharing your story and viewpoint. 

Reflections on nearly a year of Climbing Lava

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Words and photo by me (Fiona)

It was this time last year when I had some forced time off work, and found myself in ‘planning mode’. That is what I call what happens to me when I have time to think. It is not always a good thing! I came out of the 5 weeks juggling too many items. But it can be awesome. 

One of the fabulous things that came from those 5 weeks was this blog.  

This blog gives many things to me. A chance to hear amazing stories of courage. A way to step out of my own comfort zone every time I ask someone to be interviewed. I am even getting used to rejection! It provides me a platform for sharing some of my own experiences. It can be a networking tool. And a place to give a voice to those that want to share. 

Thank you to all who have supported me during my first year – especially to those who agreed to be interviewed before the blog even existed! And a particular mention to those brave enough to share their story with me and then to have the courage to say actually they did not want it published. 

Please keep sharing your stories. And I look forward to the next year of climbing lava!