Newsflash: You’re not as good as you think you are.

Tough-love. Remember what it is? You’ve maybe avoided it for a while, now you’re a grown up, but as a kid you probably scuffed your knees a few times and eventually mom, dad or whoever made the mental leap to ignore your cries and you made the mental leap to get over it. Since then you’ve successfully walked down the street a zillion times and there’s no holes in your pants at the knees. Well done. Try sprinting?

Let me guess something else about you. You’ve got a comfort zone. At work, play, in a restaurant ordering your usual — I know, I know — you get it. But that’s the point.

When did you last get outside of your comfort cocoon? When did you last scrape your knees? When did you last really say to yourself, I am even better than this and I need to take the risk of falling over again?

See we don’t generally do that. And we surround ourselves with friends, colleagues and family who tend to say yes. Yes you’re brilliant, yes you’re the best, yes it’s absolutely acceptable to be the way you are as a manager.

I call BS.

Why?

Because getting out of your comfort zone means taking a risk. And taking a risk means being open to failure and to knowing you’re not as good as you think you are. It means being held to account by people who don’t surround you with yes yes yes…

The clients I coach in personal and business leadership get pushed to improve with pragmatism and tough-love. And if you strive to be the very best version of you, maybe you need to try it. My only remit is to make you improve. You don’t have to like me, I’m the voice inside your head you’ve ignored for too long. You may not want to hear the reality of what I say. But you will improve and be a better person with a more fulfilling life. Fact.

Unless you want to keep it all very safe. Then maybe go buy some knee-pads.