How to live boldly

Living boldly is about finding the best version of yourself. It’s about living life in your own terms, not in society’s or anyone else’s terms. People living boldly are not motivated by fame or money. They are motivated to get better, and to get closer to who they are meant to be. The fact is, we can all live boldly. We can all live according to our own truths. We just have to nourish this truth inside and encourage it to start living. You might be wondering, how do you then start living boldly? Where do you even start? 

The first step is being very honest with yourself on what you value most in life and staying true to it. Are you in a relationship or job that brings you joy and happiness? Or, are you feeling stuck or unfulfilled? Feeling stuck or unfulfilled could be a sign that you’re in a place where your values are not aligned. Seven years out of business school and working as an executive at Microsoft, John Wood was feeling completely burnt out. During vacation, he made a trek through Himalayas where he stumbled upon a primary school in Nepal with just a few books for its 450 students. Shocked at the lack of books, he returned a year later to donate 3,000 books on the back of six donkeys that he collected from his families and friends. Soon thereafter, he left Microsoft to dedicate fully to increasing literacy and gender equality in education. Now, Room to Read that he founded in 2000, has touched the lives of 39 million children and their communities worldwide. The positive impact we can make when we’re true to who we are is limitless. It all begins with understanding what you value the most. 

Step number two is to show up everyday, not for anything or anyone else but for yourself. Root confidence in yourself and not in title, money, or recognitions. The joy of intrinsic motivation far outweighs any extrinsic motivation. Only then will you be able to find the steady, fertile ground to keep growing however big you want to be. As Woody Allen has said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up”. Brandon Stanton was fired from his bond trading job when the 2008 financial crisis hit. The markets changed and he wasn’t adaptive to figure out the new ways of bond trading. He went from making a lot of money to losing a lot of money. Having lived his life buried so deeply in his computer screens, he decided he will live life outside of them. He picked up photography and started learning from scratch. He arrived in New York from Chicago with the goal of photographing 10,000 people on New York city streets. His photoblog was ignored the first year. He went nearly broke but he still worked on it everyday non-stop. In addition to photos, he added short quotes from the conversations he had. People started noticing and his project, now known as Humans of New York has completely took off. Keep showing up even when no one is watching.

Lastly, take risks and put yourself out there. Thomas Jefferson has said, “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done”. To gain new knowledge or experience, one needs to make an effort. An average person is said to have 12 jobs in his or her lifetime. Each job is meant to help us explore our unique talents and get us closer to who we’re meant to be. This may include getting right back up from what others may consider ‘failures’. Vera Wang ‘failed’ when she didn’t make to the 1968 Olympic figure skating team. She became the youngest Vogue editor afterwards but was passed over for the coveted promotion. After 17 years at Vogue, she worked in Ralph Lauren for two years. At age 40, she became a bridal wear designer and the rest is history. Take risks. Go out there and explore. 

My trainer once said so many of his customers give him diverse sets of excuses to skip a workout. We do the same for not living boldly. We say life is busy, we need more time or resources, or we’re too old, just to name a few. Life is too short to live on excuses. Once you know what you value the most in life, start saying no to things that are not aligned to your values. Start bringing your full self to things that you consciously said yes to. Keep showing up because you firmly believe in it. You’ll then soon find yourself happier and living more boldly than ever. 

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