How to Be Bold

The dictionary tells us that to be bold means to be brave, daring, courageous, audacious, confident, brash, and self assured. Maybe you display some of these traits, and maybe you aspire to others.

Why would you want to be bold anyway?

• Do you want to be more confident than you are now?
• Do you want to take more risks in your life?
• Is your life dull and you are seeking some adventure?
• Would you like to stand out from your peers or your business competitors?
• Have you always admired people who seem to shine as distinct personalities?
• Do you find shyness or hesitance creates limits that keep you from getting what you most want out of life?

If you’re not bold, you’re probably shy or passive, and your life may be boring, routine, and unfulfilled. This can be very painful because not being bold or confident may be standing in your way of having the relationships you desire, the career that would fulfill you, or the adventures you crave.

Most people who live vibrant rewarding lives demonstrate those traits of boldness. They don’t wait for life to happen to them, they go out and create it. They don’t stop when they meet limits or challenges, they push on through. They have fulfilling lives because they are bold enough to go out and get what they want.

Would you like your life to be more exciting, and more fulfilling inside and out? Maybe you need to learn how to be bold. Here are some tips!

1. Work up an action list
   List some things you’ve always wanted to do but have never done for whatever reason. Suppose you’ve always wanted to travel to another country but have made up a lot of excuses why you can’t do it. Set a goal to take a trip within the next six months to a year. Write down all the reasons you think you can’t do it, and then figure out how to bust through each excuse. Take small steps along the way to move through your reasons why you can’t do this. Consider working with a coach if you get stuck. 

• Fake it until you make it!
  Decide one new character trait you’d like to take on; like being more outgoing. Find some people who have this trait and either model them or ask them for coaching. Select one exercise/day that will help you practice. For example, ask a stranger for directions or where to find an item in the grocery store. Another day, walk up to someone at a party who you would like to meet and initiate conversation. Notice how your confidence grows little by little as you take baby steps each day. Work with a coach or accountability buddy to stay on track and not retreat when you get scared. 

• Change up your style
  Whether you adopt a new look with clothing or hair style or you change the way you talk, walk, act, or interact with people, step into a new style that you consider to be bold. Sometimes changing your outer appearance will help you adopt a new personality style as well. If you are looking great and feeling confident on the outside, your inner confidence will soar as well. If you’ve always worn black and white, consider adding some color to your wardrobe. If you always talk softly and slowly, try talking louder and quicker. See if you feel bolder. 

• Take measured risks
  Step outside your comfort zone and do something out of character for you. Bold people are courageous, so whether you decide to sky dive or buy a sports car, see how it feels to be unpredictable. You can always go back to the way you were, but becoming bolder usually means stretching yourself beyond where you were and never going back. Being bold means experimenting. It could be new places to eat or vacation, or making new friends who are distinct from your current group. Surprise not only your friends and family, but yourself! 

• Act “as if.”
  Pretend for a day that you are bold. How would you feel? What would you do differently? Find some bold people and see what they do and how they do things. Then model them and act as if you, too, are bold. When situations come up, don’t act as you do normally; step into your bold character and behave differently. Put yourself in places where no one knows you — so you can practice bold actions without feeling self-conscious. Over time, you, too, will be bold as it becomes natural to you.