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As we settle into the pattern and rhythm of a New Year Dave Gribben of Below the Line offers some insights into how you can ensure that you make the best of this year and use it as an opportunity to bring some new ideas and fresh thinking into your life and business.

It’s that time of the year when we pause and consider a new year with hope and ambition for ourselves, our businesses and our communities.

So just before you get thrown into 2017….

Our colleague Gerry Hussey puts it well when he talks about the breaths we take and the lives we live.  Some of us spend too much time breathing out and driving on and some of us spend too much time breathing in and taking on. A breath retained for too long soon becomes toxic – but between our breaths, there is a pause – the pause often creates the rhythm and the quality of our breath or of our lives.

So what will you choose to let go and what will you choose to take on? And how will you make those choices? Mark Twain once said that the two most important days of our lives are the day you were born and the day you discover why. So maybe if we had a sense of our ‘why’ we could make better choices about how we want to live and lead in 2017.

Here are seven simple ideas I have used working with leaders across many industries and countries throughout 2016 – they might help you live and lead better in 2017.

With the Olympic Games upon us, we are witnessing athletes from all over the world pushing themselves to their mental, physical and emotional limits in the pursuit of Olympic Glory. Seeing the O’Donovan Brothers win their brilliant silver medal, it’s not hard to be filled with pride and genuine admiration for these two characters, their coaches and their families.

However, virtually all of Ireland’s Olympic representatives have done something I think is even more powerful (and very relevant to the rest of us). They have, over the course of their respective Olympic Journey’s, taken step after step into the unknown. They have pursued their Olympic dream in the absence of certainty in so many areas. Are they really good enough to make it? Will they be lucky with avoiding injuries? How will they fund their day-to-day living? Will they make the qualifying standards? What will they do if they don’t get funding next season? What will they do after their competitive career comes to an end? They have not just stepped into the unknown; they are living in the unknown surrounded by much uncertainty.

Stepping into the unknown requires a huge amount of courage. Being brave enough to follow a dream, an instinct, an idea, a business opportunity and do all you can to give it the best chance of coming to fruition. This is something I personally admire when I see our Athletes doing all they can to realise their dreams.

Our ability to manage our emotions is one of the key influencers when it comes to stepping into the unknown. I know this from personal experience, my own client work, as well as accessing many decades of global research in this area.

The state of our emotional well-being can be either an obstacle or a stepping stone to embracing the unknown. Our emotions impact how we feel and how we feel directly determines our thoughts. Our thoughts in turn impact our everyday behaviours and thus the results we get in work and indeed in life.

A few years ago before embarking on a 3 month rowing expedition across the Atlantic Ocean, a friend of mine observed that I seemed quite relaxed and asked me if I was afraid. When I told him that I felt more excited than afraid, he shared something with me that I will never forget. He said, “Paul, being brave or courageous has nothing to do with not being afraid but everything to do with how you face your fear”. As it turned out, the bit of fear that I did have was actually a very useful emotion to embrace. It kept me on edge and very careful while out on the open ocean, It ensured I always maintained a healthy respect for the power of mother nature and what she could do to me at any given moment. It was simply an emotional reminder that I cared about what I was doing.

We can often see the end results and rightly admire great feats that people accomplish. The silver medals won by the O’Donovan Brothers. The successful business owner who started out with nothing. The actor or musician who creates great work and receives many accolades. But what we don’t see, and in many cases cannot see, are those first few brave steps into the unknown. This is where the great seeds of success are sown.

Our attitudes to the unknown, or being out of our comfort zone, are as revealing about who we are and where we are in our lives, as they are about what we might be facing. Whether it’s a personal, professional or business challenge you are faced with that requires a shift and some steps into the unknown, consider this simple question – what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Take some time to consider how the answer to this question feels and also what first steps you can take to make this happen.

Life is short and none of us know how long we have on this earth. There will never be a perfect time to take that first step into the unknown. We can of course come up with all sorts of reasons about why now is not the right time. We don’t need to make rash decisions and of course some smart planning will be needed around making that shift or change of direction. But a moment will arrive when all the planning or reasoning in the world is irrelevant and a leap into the unknown must be taken. I’ve taken many of these in my life so far and one thing I have learned is that they’re never as scary as they first seem.

I think Christopher Columbus put it best – “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”. Whatever “ocean” it is that you are contemplating crossing, your ability to manage your emotions will have a huge impact on losing sight of the shore, sustaining high performance and also enjoying the journey.

Building daily practices to better manage emotional energy and resilience levels do not need to be complicated or require huge resources. They are simple things done regularly that over time lead to great outcomes and experiences.

As well as working with individuals in companies Below the Line also works with teams. A big part of this work involves getting people to consider what impact does bringing care into situations where people may not think it belongs. Dave Gribben of Below the Line Ireland & Enable Consulting shares some thoughts on the idea of really caring in business.

How Much Do You Care?

In conversation recently with a colleague they explained to me a challenge that they were having with a senior manager in their company who has recently recognised the need for a change in the culture in the organisation that would foster a greater sense of belonging, team work and value being placed on the contributions that staff make to the ongoing success of the company. And yet in the very same breath as they were recognising this need they inadvertently pinpointed one of the key impediments to making this change happen by saying that stopping a colleague in the corridor to ask them how their weekend had been was not something that they could ever see themselves doing.

Something myself and my colleagues regularly get asked is, what does Below the Line do? For me, there are two immediate answers to that question. The first answer relates to the actual ‘stuff’ that we do which is running Executive Leadership Retreats for Senior leaders and Business Owners and working with teams in organisations of all sizes building high performance cultures. The second answer relates to what actually takes place when we bring individuals and teams together and a lot of it has to do with challenging people with how vulnerable are they willing to be?

As the Irish economy slowly (or quickly depending on the nature of your industry or sector) emerges from recession I have had a number of conversations lately with business owners and CEOs about the challenges they face in managing growth and opportunity.

Naturally enough people are both delighted and relieved to be experiencing movement in a positive direction. However, in the same conversations people have also been talking to me about the pressures of coping with increased economic activity. Workforce retention, demands on time, making sure clients continue to be treated well and the pressure to capitalise on a positive economic outlook all mean that many business owners and senior leaders in companies haven’t had time to draw breath between making it through the recession and re-embarking on a growth footing.

We’ve all sat through the safety presentation on a plane prior to take off and taken in the message that in the unlikely event of an emergency we should attach our own oxygen masks first before tending to others around us. This is sound advice that we can readily understand in the context of an emergency situation but looked at again from the perspective of our everyday lives I wonder how many business owners and managers are currently putting the welfare, health and development of others ahead of themselves?

In his ten years plus as a performance consultant Gerry has worked with some of the most successful Irish athletes of all time. Central to his approach is a message that emphasises words such as humanity, compassion, vulnerability and love – words not readily found in a boxing ring, a rugby pitch or indeed a boardroom. Drawing on this philosophy Gerry has developed new and innovative models and techniques aimed at uncovering human potential for personal growth, organisational development and leadership in all walks and areas of life.

The next Below the Line Executive Leadership Retreat will be taking place on the 9, 10 & 11^th of March 2016 in Delphi Mountain Resort and Spa. We have a great group of people coming out there with us and if you’d like to part of the experience then have a look at what’s on offer at www.btlleadership.com

Taking time out is something that any busy business owner, executive or leader finds extremely difficult to justify but continuing with the same routines on the same at times gruelling schedule can deplete us mentally and physically and prevent us from getting clarity on the behaviours or strategies that might make all the difference to our lives and our business and that are often hiding in plain sight from us until we take an opportunity for quality reflection.

Simply put, the Below the Line Executive Leadership Retreats are about getting off the treadmill for a few days in the magical surrounds of the Delphi Valley for a chance to reflect, review and recharge in the company of likeminded success orientated people. Working with their fellow participants and the members of the Below the Line team they will engage in sessions and exercises that will enable them to take time to consider how and in what ways they can be tapping into the best of themselves and bringing it to the areas in which they lead in their lives.