Stop Playing Safe by Margie Warrell – A Sample Chapter

become the norm.Yet history has shown that when fear runs most rampant, courageous action reaps the greatest rewards. And nowhere is courage more needed right now than in the work we do, and the way we do it.

I wrote my first book, Find Your Courage, to help people overcome the doubts and fears that were undermining their relationships and wellbeing, and confining them to their lives of quiet desperation, immaculate mediocrity or both. Meanwhile, the world has suffered its worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and the fear that stifled people’s personal lives has infiltrated into the corners of organisations globally.We live in a complex, competitive and fast-changing world. The actions that got you to where you are today will not be sufficient to take you to where you want to be 10 years from now. As the world has changed, so you too must change how you engage in it.

I have written this book because I have a passionate belief in the potential of human beings to create lives rich in meaning and contribution. In my work within organisations around the world, I constantly encounter people trapped inside prisons of their own making, failing to utilise their potential — people whose experience of going to work every day is marred with anxiety, resentment and resignation. Perhaps you relate.

What you do matters. How you do it matters even more. Sadly, global surveys on employee engagement tell us that many people don’t believe so.The cost to the bottom line runs into the billions.The cost to the human spirit is immeasurable. Underlying this disengagement is the fundamental fear of failing, of looking foolish, of not having enough and not being enough.

The fact is you have all the resources available to you for creating a life and a career that fulfil you so that your work not only enables you to make a good living, but also to enjoy a more rewarding everyday experience of life (rather than just weekends and holidays). Research has confirmed what my experience has shown me: when people connect to a deeper purpose in their work they’re not only more engaged and effective in their work, but also more inclined to take the risks essential for success.

There are countless business books filled with strategies for becoming a more proficient networker, strategist, salesperson, negotiator, ‘hi-po’ employee, manager and leader. There are very few that get to the heart of what holds people back from applying them. The reality is that it’s not