Where Do You Hedge?
We held our annual President’s retreat last week in a remote part of British Columbia. The setting was remote, magical, and temperamental. We had sun, rain, wind. We saw eagles, deer, sea lions and seals. We worked on the business, spent time connecting with each other, and learned some new things.
At the retreat, a friend of mine, a now retired CEO of a 6-billion-dollar organization joined us for the first day. He spoke to us about the power of avoiding hedging language.
What is hedging language you say?
Some examples of hedging language: I’ll try, I hope, we’ll see…
What is the opposite of hedging language? I will, I want, let’s do it…
On our second day at the retreat, we went on a four hour zodiac tour up an inlet. It rained on us the whole time. And when you go fast in a zodiac into the rain, it pelts you in the face. Which hurts, unless you are cool like me and wear sunglasses in the rain. Our guide, Luke was all in. There was no turning back. There was no, “well let’s see what the weather does”. He was taking us up the Princess Louisa Inlet to see Chatterbox Falls. The rain made the water calm so there was no risk of stormy seas. And bonus, there will be no boats out there. Yippee.
We were going and it was going to be spectacular. There was no hedging.
That was that. It was clear.
Can you think of a recent time where you caught yourself using hedging language?
Often we use hedging language because we are unwilling to tell the truth. There may be all sorts of reasons for that. But take a moment to consider where you are unwilling to tell the truth to yourself. What do you know for sure, but you keep in the land of “I’d like to do that one day…” vs. “I will do that. I will start working on it today”.
Working on it may be thinking of it while you drive home from work, or on the treadmill, or when you’re making dinner. I think so often we hedge ourselves because we’re afraid of letting others down, and/or letting ourselves down. But here’s the thing. When we commit to what we really want and say no to what we don’t want – that’s where the energy lives. There’s an energy and commitment that comes from clarity. This gives us the ability to bring a new reality into existence.
We knew we were going to get cold on the boat. And our guide Luke made it clear that we were going. So that was that. Let’s go. Get into your survival suit and I’ll take a photo when you get to the waterfall. It is going to be spectacular.
