How to stop playing small and step into your own greatness

I recently interviewed Lin Tan, an award-winning coach & master trainer. Lin is one of the youngest Master Certified Coaches (MCC), which is the highest official coach certification one can achieve with the International Coach Federation (ICF).

Lin has worked with hundreds of individuals and organisation, clocking over 4,000 years of coaching experience, turning them into extraordinary coaches. Being recognised for her works, Lin was awarded the Top 101 Global Coaching Leader award in 2020 by World HRD Congress and her works have been featured on Channel News Asia and Channel 8. She has also published a best-selling book on coaching.

Today, Lin champions professional coaches and coaching-leaders through her coach-training school, Collective Change Institute, and also contributes to the FORBES Coaches Council.

What I enjoyed most about my conversation with Lin is discussing the three big enemies that cause us to play small and prevent us from stepping into our own greatness. If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt, comparing yourself with others or imposter syndrome, read on to learn how you can overcome these and big play!

Underpinning the three big enemies to greatness is understanding that your actions and life trajectory are defined by your life philosophy. Your life philosophy is your life’s purpose, supported by your programming and values. By default, we are programmed to live life in an automatic way. But if you’re looking to truly step into your greatness, choosing to play big and be deliberate with your choices and actions is the first step required.

Similarly, another prerequisite to playing big and stepping into your greatness is being consciously aware of your thoughts and unconscious programming which guides your life. What are the thoughts that cross your mind? Are they helping you to play big or small? After analysing, if your current thoughts aren’t serving you, choose bigger thoughts. They could be influenced by your goals or a bigger philosophy. You’ll then soon start to see opportunities that you never once saw before!

Self-doubt is the first main enemy to greatness and is characterised by a belief that you’re inadequate and are not made to do big things. If you recognise this within you, you can start to overcome self-doubt by changing your environment and hanging out with people who not only believe in you, but who also see potential and greatness within you. Couple this with being your own cheerleader, and you’ll start to transcend any self-doubt that you may be experiencing.

The second main enemy to greatness is the comparison game, comparing yourself to others and against benchmarks or standards. If you recognise this within you, start by understanding your motivations and intentions behind your actions. Are they motivated from a place of genuine service (i.e., wanting to help others), or are they fuelled from a place of lack (i.e., trying to prove yourself to others)? Once you understand your motivations, it becomes easier to own and accept them, and take responsibility for living a life that is truly yours.

The third main enemy to greatness is imposter syndrome, which is characterised by thinking and feeling that we’re not who or what other people think I am. That we’re not good enough, which leads us to feel like a fraud or an imposter. This happens to us because as you strive for growth and attempt to live out your potentiality, your old self tries to claw you back (just like how snakes and reptiles shed, imposter syndrome is the voice from the old skin). It’s like you’re shedding skin. The way around this is to shed faster and cut off what limits you so it doesn’t weigh you down.

If you assess and implement these takeaways above, you’ll be able to overcome the big three enemies to greatness, and as a result, feel more effective and powerful as you start to unleash your greatest potential by stepping into your own greatness.

If you enjoyed these takeaways, I encourage you to check out my latest podcast episode with Lin Tan, an award-winning coach & master trainer. It will help you to stop playing small and stepping into your own greatness in 2021!

To listen to the full podcast, click here