I
'm the kind of person who goes
ALL in when I want to know
the answer to something. I’ll do
things like spend countless hours
researching the absolute best way
to have lusciously, bouncing curls
of hair: use only clarifying condi-
tioner, no shampoo, apply $4 hair
gel to sopping wet hair while still
in the shower, do not towel dry,
instead wrap a t-shirt around your
head for 30 minutes, use "praying
hand" to scrunch after it eventu-
ally air drys. If that sounds more
complicated than "buy this mira-
cle product" you're right - but it's
still the absolute BEST thing for my
hair. Believe me, I've tried every-
thing. Evvvverything. It also turns
out that following my curiosity
is the absolute BEST thing for my
sanity too. Another of these clues I picked up
on during the book writing process
was this...
Here's the thing about curiosity and
obsession: when curiosity guides
your every (sometimes obsessive)
move, you're prone to pick up on
subtle clues. So allow me to present...
For instance, after a heinous year
of one awful thing happening after
another, my curiosity of bravery
and courage led me to an obses-
sion -- What the HELL is bravery?
How come nobody has a really
good definition for it? Is it born? Is
it practiced? What are the ingredi-
ents?
My obsession for answers fol-
lowed the subtle clues to this con-
clusion: Bravery is what happens
when vulnerability, imagination,
and improvisation get mixed to-
gether. This curious obsession to
learn more about bravery fueled
4 years of research, countless in-
terviews, turning those interviews
into a podcast, and then writing a
bestselling book about it. All in, re-
member? I don't tread lightly with
my curiosity.
Often there is a direct tie to some-
one's lack of bravery and their lack
of money.
Obviously this is a generalization,
but hear me out. If we cannot be
brave and ask for the sale - we
never have a chance at that sale's
profit. If we are not bravely enforc-
ing boundaries in client relation-
ships, then our clients tend to walk
all over our payment policies, pay
late, or don't pay at all. If we shrink
away and hide our introverted
strengths, then our customers and
colleagues won't even know our
unicorn services or miracle prod-
ucts exist.
3 Brave Skills to Practice that
Build Your Bank Account!
There are 12 total ingredients of
bravery and all of them are out-
lined in my book Bare Naked Brav-
ery: How to Be Creatively Coura-
geous ( ) but since this is an article
and you aren't on a roadtrip listen-
ing to me read my entire audio-
book out loud, let's use the 3 main
ingredients for today's purposes.
Building our bank account by
practicing the ingredients of brav-
ery is pretty new. At least I haven't
heard many folks doing this. But I
know those of you who like to do
everything with extra doses of in-
tention will love these suggestions.
Those of you pining for a few more
decimals represented in your bank
statements will love these sugges-
tions too.
1. Practice Vulnerability
Our beloved Brené Brown de-
scribes vulnerability as "emotion-
al exposure." I don't need to tell
you twice, so I won't -- running a
successful, profitable, visible, ba-
dass business requires extreme
amounts of vulnerability. We have
to take risks, acknowledge and en-
force boundaries, listen to our lim-
itations, and recognize the reality
of our situation. All of that requires
vulnerability and provides excel-
lent places to practice vulnerabil-
ity.
No, you don't have to go from nev-
er making a sale ever to finding the
scariest sales situation. Rome was
not built in a day. Let's be real here.
Pick a small vulnerability. Maybe
it’s simply telling your assistant
that you're stressed out. Maybe
this is taking yourself to go get a
pedicure with the expressed pur-
pose of using that time to take an
honest look at your bank's mobile
app. (Who says vulnerability has
to feel like your sock-covered vel-
cro calluses!?!)
Pick something small and honest,
preferably daily. This will build your
ability to display your authenticity,
especially when it matters most.
2. Practice Using Your Imagination
The second skill to help build your
bank account is using your imagi-
nation. I'm not talking about sitting
with your mala beads o