“The cave we fear to enter holds the treasure that we seek.” – Carl Jung

Every one of us has been in a situation where we knew we were out of our comfort zone and did not initially feel like we “had what it takes” to pull it off. We entered into the job or the team or the class or the responsibility feeling significantly overwhelmed, unprepared or inadequate for the task ahead of us. Sweaty palms, perspiration dripping from our bodies, we still pressed on without the insight of knowing the outcome of this exciting and scary adventure.

All significant and meaningful experiences in our lives come when we have the courage to take action and move forward without the luxury of a clear map or instructions. We have all heard someone say “action cures fear” but in the face of trying something new we have our challenges. All great women and men understand that by “leaning into the unknown” is where all of the magic and magnificence takes place. When we “Lean into the Unknown” we meet amazing people, we visit beautiful places, we have meaningful experiences, and we create remarkable opportunities for ourselves.

“Be Bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” – Goethe

The more we trust ourselves we will understand that good things are meant to happen in our life and we will be in a better position to see opportunities when they appear. Those that are bold lean into the unknown with regularity. Great pioneers don’t follow maps- they create them. They are not asking the question “How do we do this?, they ask “How can we do this better?” Every pioneer in science, medicine, education, entrepreneurship, and sports understands that there is still many undiscovered and unknown ways to accomplish, invent, and create great things, and in order for this to happen we will have to move into undiscovered territories in our life.

“When you change the way you look at things…the things you look at change.” -Wayne Dyer

Having the courage to lean into the unknown is where all of the innovation, creativity, and new discoveries for mankind exist. In his famous book,“The Magic of Thinking Big” David Schwartz states ‘that most of us make two basic errors with respect to intelligence: 1) We underestimate our own brain power. 2) We overestimate the other person’s brain power.’ Each one of you knows the moment when you have the courage and you decide to place yourself in new environments, groups, businesses, and teams. When this happens, great opportunities appear in your life and all of the crazy, scary images melt away and a new vision for yourself emerges and replaces the old image. So my challenge to you is to be the type of person that is excited about the unknown, and is constantly moving toward the unknown, and through this process you to will find your treasure.