Vulnerability – you sound like truth and feel like courage!

Close your eyes and visualise – one lazy Sunday afternoon and you have just gobbled the last morsel of your sumptuous breakfast. Gratified beyond remorse, you pick up the newspaper and read a few articles about the benefits of intermittent fasting. Something clicks in your head! Charged with this new passion for healthy eating and living, you give a shout out to your spouse – “I have to take charge of my life and my health. From now onwards, I am only going to eat two meals a day and my last meal will be at 5.30 p.m. If I miss it, I miss it!”

Your spouse looks at you as if one has seen a ghost, silently thinking “how many days will this fad last?” However not to disillusion or demotivate you, your spouse keeps these thoughts in the mind cloud. Soon you find yourself navigating the trolley in the grocery store, pulling proteins out of the shelves and filling your cart. You must have something to munch on when the time comes for you to start your diet and you feel hungry.

The “advisors” soon learn of your new fad and they are armed with a lot of “Dr Google” provided information. Your family advises you that you will impact your health and your colleagues say it’s not good for you. You notice that while everyone is becoming healthier and are confidently going to gyms, you start feeling vulnerable and get a gut-wrenching feeling. Your heart rate speeds up, your palms go sweaty, and you think, why in the world did I ever think I could do this intermittent fasting and that it is good for me?

Well! Don’t worry. This shaky feeling is called vulnerability. The first thought that comes to mind is that one wants to turn around, shelve everything and more importantly not do anything to escape the potential judgment of others and deal with the fear of the unfamiliar.

According to Brené Brown, the good thing is that "vulnerability is the core, the heart, the centre of meaningful human experiences.” By pushing through these doors, we may end up doing something far healthier and more transformative. Another revelation from her that holds true for everyone: what scares us is sometimes actually good for us, and if we can stomach sitting with it, vulnerability has the potential to transform itself into joy.

This is particularly true when you speak with entrepreneurs. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia realized that they could make a quick buck by renting out an air mattress in their living room to people visiting San Francisco for a big conference. Scared and apprehensive about the approach, they catapulted their idea through a website where global trotters and travellers could avail of a cheaper option than a hotel. Their ability to consistently learn from their consumers' feedback enabled them to keep improving their offers and features, thus adding more and more loyal customers to their existing pool. Their vulnerability became their catalyst and created “moments of delight” leading to loyal customers. Rest is history. Imagine if they would not have stepped out of their comfort zone or done something that forces them to loosen control – we would not have experienced life before and after Airbnb.

I firmly believe that Vulnerability is the catalyst of innovation, creativity and change. Our only limitations are those that we set in our mind.