In this conversation: why we stop taking risks as we grow up and how to get the playfulness back, why grit can be terrible advice, the truth about the 10,000-hour rule, the one question to ask your boss instead of asking for a raise, the day he moved across the country with no job waiting, and the time he became one of the first outsiders to hear "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" before the world did.

Warm, funny, and full of the kind of wisdom you only get from a life of saying yes.

Learn more about Stan's work at slingshotgroup.org. Ready for your own next step? Visit saraemmersoncoaching.com and book a coaching consultation.

In this episode of That Sounds Risky, Sara Emmerson sits down with Gareth Pon, an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and creative director who pioneered Instagram in South Africa, moved across the world on the strength of a single social-media message, and now leads social-first creative for some of the biggest brands on the planet. His path was never a straight line. It was a string of small, slightly terrifying yeses that compounded into a remarkable career and an even more remarkable life.

Gareth and Sara talk about why risk is a muscle you build one rep at a time, why comfort is the killer of creativity, and why everyone needs one ridiculous dream. His is going to space, which is why there is a hidden rocket in every photo he posts. It is an honest, funny, faith-filled conversation about betting on yourself before you feel ready.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why saying yes before you feel ready is how brave people actually build a life
• How small risks train the muscle that makes the big leaps feel possible
• Why comfort kills creativity, and how to keep reinventing yourself
• How relationships and generosity, not talent alone, open the biggest doors
• Why you need one ridiculous dream, and what happens the moment you believe it could come true
• How faith and letting go of control can free you to take bigger risks

"You need to have a ridiculous dream, because the moment you believe that dream can come true, everything else in your life becomes possible."

Follow Gareth's work (and hunt for the hidden rocket) at @garethpon.

Sara Emmerson is a certified life, business, and executive coach (ICF PCC) who helps capable people stop overthinking and make the brave move they've been putting off. Learn more and work with Sara at saraemmersoncoaching.com. New episodes weekly, so follow along.

Fresh off a podcast interview with a host in London, Sara brings the best questions back to her own listeners: What does leadership actually mean? How important is mindset in success? What does sales really mean? Who does she coach, and why does this podcast exist at all? Her answers hold whether you're an executive, a business owner, an entrepreneur, or a creative who knows you're capable of more.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why leadership is creating clarity in uncertainty, and why it starts with leading yourself first
• The difference between a strategy problem and a belief problem, and which one is actually keeping you stuck
• Why confidence doesn't come before action, it comes from taking action
• How fear, self-doubt, perfectionism, and other people's opinions keep high performers plateaued
• Why sales is service: helping someone see the gap between where they are and where they want to be
• The two kinds of regret, and why "I wish I'd tried" is the one you can't fix

In Episode 2 of That Sounds Risky, Sara Emmerson breaks down how to tell a real reason from a fear wearing a disguise, and what changes once you can see it. She walks through the RISK test, a simple way to check whether the thing you keep saying is information or fear: Repeated (how long have you been saying it?), Isolate (what's the fear underneath?), Sacrifice (what's it costing you to wait?), Keep moving (one small action in the next 24 hours).

She also makes the case that staying stuck is its own kind of work, that readiness was never a feeling you wait for, and that confidence shows up after you move, not before.

In this episode:

1. How to tell a real reason from an excuse (the RISK test)
2. Why "I need more clarity" is often a courage problem, not a clarity problem
3. The hidden cost of staying exactly where you are
4. Why every version of your life requires work, so choose the work that's worth it
5. How to take the next brave step before you feel ready

"Readiness isn't a feeling. It's a decision."

Sara Emmerson is a certified life, business, and executive coach (ICF PCC) who helps capable people stop overthinking and make the brave move they've been putting off.

Learn more and work with Sara at saraemmersoncoaching.com. New episodes weekly, so follow along.