Our MD is embarking on a journey - a very cold journey!

Is it easy to build and lead a successful business?

It isn’t easy but it is possible with the right approach to personal development.

As well as being able to take care of the business side of the business - that’s a given - you need to be mentally, emotionally and physically strong. You need to care of yourself and others. You need to be able to keep going when the odds are stacked against you and get up again when you’ve been knocked down.

You need to think clearly in chaos and guide people well, even when they have let you down. You need humility - the ability to listen, own mistakes and learn.  And you need courage, in spades. Fear will hold you back.

Personal development for business leaders is essential as no one person starts up a business and naturally navigates all these things well. If you think you can, you might be lacking in the humility, vulnerability and listening areas!

Becoming a great business leader is basically a work in progress for everyone. Some people may have some natural leadership skills but everyone wanting to become a good leader has something new to learn every day.

At the moment I’m interested in overcoming fear.

Last year I climbed Snowdon with a great group I belong to called Million Dollar Sprint Club. I’d climbed it twice before but this time the conditions were awful - driving wind and hail and very poor visibility. The route was harder too. I got scared and very nearly bottled the last bit of the climb.

I didn’t bottle it in the end. I made it to the top and I was very grateful for the encouragement that got me there (thanks Stevie!) However, it got me thinking that my negative inner voice was quite loud there on the mountain when in fact I was more than capable of getting to the summit.

I started wondering whether this fear might be holding me back in other ways.

I’m a huge fan of personal development (perhaps because I need so much of it!) and have enjoyed being part of many Mastermind groups, taking numerous leadership courses and backing all of this up with extensive business book and podcast consumption.

However, I think for overcoming your fears you need more than courses and podcasts.

You need to set yourself a massive scary goal and then go on the journey.

I went in search of this goal, and having dismissed the spider therapy (sorry, WAY too scary!!) I decided that I wanted to conquer the cold. It soon became obvious to me that the next step in my development as a business person was to become an accredited Wim Hof method coach. If you aren’t yet aware of Wim Hof the Ice Man - watch this!

The point of the Wim Hof Method training, involving breathwork and ice cold water immersion, is to learn to overcome your inner voice and your physiology with mind control - to the point that you can be submerged in icy water and not feel cold. This really appeals to me.

If I can conquer the ice with my mind, I will know that I will learn to conquer nearly all my fears - (no, sorry, still not the spider one!!) and perhaps even help other people conquer theirs.

I’m setting off for Poland this Sunday to be part of Wim Hof’s Winter Expedition 2024. I hope to have a blast but also to find out what I might be capable of once I get control of my mind! As well as cold showers and yoga in the snow the retreat involves an expedition up nearby Sniezka mountain wearing only a bikini.

I may not share pictures of that particular experience (!!) but I’ll definitely be updating here in a week on whether I returned from the winter expedition braver and better able to build and lead my business - or whether I returned with nothing but frostbite and a deflated ego!!

If you don’t go, you’ll never know. Right?!

To find out what happened click HERE