Choose to Back Yourself

I enjoy watching programs that showcase the strength of the human spirit. To me, the MasterChef Australia competition is one such example. Look past the cooking, tasting and occasional tears; and you will see remarkable transformations in self belief and confidence. And along the way, you’ll get some valuable lessons on what it takes to be successful.

Choose to back yourself

At some point, each contestant made a choice to enter the competition. I’ve no doubts they each had to grapple with their inner demons leading up to that decision. But they made that important choice to back themselves. Just for that, I tip my hat to them as it takes courage and self belief to even get to that step.

Throughout our career, each of us will have windows of opportunity to step up. At that point, let’s make this clear – it’s a choice that you make. You can choose to let your fears and self doubts rule the day, or you can choose to back yourself and step up.

Play to your strengths

It’s obvious that the contestants have raw talent. Some more than others. The contestants who thrived early on focused on their strengths which helped them move up the leaderboard. That’s a good reminder for the rest of us. It’s crucial that we develop self awareness of our leadership strengths and vulnerabilities, and position ourselves to play to our strengths for success.

Practice moulds raw talent into mastery

Because I only watch the competition occasionally, I notice the striking improvements in each contestant’s skilfulness, creativity and confidence. You take raw talent, add a healthy dose of formidable challenges, stick it all into a pressure cooker and turn up the heat. Adjust along the way with a pinch of mentoring and guidance  …. and what gets served up is impressive mastery topped with heaping ladles of confidence.

So the lesson here – Are you pushing yourself to step out of your comfort zone with bigger challenges to hone your skills? 

Why is this so important to you?

This is a question asked often by the judges especially during crucial moments when the contestant is at his or her breaking point. The intent is clear –  the judges are trying to remind contestants of why they signed up in the first place. 

I love witnessing the transformation at that very moment. That make or break moment when they dig deep to find the resilience to push through.

All of us will reach breaking points at various stages of our career. Remembering your ‘why’ will help you find your personal source of resilience which is critical for both leadership and business success. 

Ok, I’ll admit it. I get a kick out of watching great cooks dish up delicious food. But I was also reminded of some important lessons. Most valuable of all is to always choose to back yourself. 

Because when you do, remarkable things happen.