When I was little, I loved the dot-to-dot puzzles my mum bought me at the shops. In those early days, I would squint at the sea of dots and numbers and try to guess what they would reveal. The best ones kept me mystified, so I’d have to shrug, grab my Crayola crayon(Violet-blue or Denim were my favourites) and just find that first dot…and the next…and the next.
When I was a mere dot-to-dot rookie, I’d draw in big bold lines and sometimes I’d make a mistake, a glaring line in the wrong place that would need careful colouring out…
I hate being the hypocrite that I am. It brings me no pleasure. It annoys me. It makes my brain itch. But it happens. Again and again and again.
In my various professional guises I work with remarkable, amazing people who get stuck in “inaction” about something, become paralysed in the face of something. Who know what they need to do, what they want to do, but they aren’t.
I work with them to understand their inaction, to unpack it and tackle it and change it into action. It’s often a messy mix of insecurity, perfectionism and fear of failing…
Debbie Forster, MBE
Award-winning leader, speaker, coach & consultant specialising in innovation, diversity, scaling, social impact. Director of Novel-Design Ltd.
