There’s something holding us back.
Fear.
We don’t want to make that next sales call because it hurts to get rejected. So we find some non-consequential work to kill the time.
We don’t want to ask the friendly girl at the front counter if their marketing manager is in today because we’re afraid we’ll get asked to leave. So we pretend to look around the store. When the friendly girl from the front counter asks if she can help you find anything today, we sheepishly say, “No,” even when we should really say, “Yes!”
We don’t want to bring in that new employee because we’re afraid that they won’t do the job as well as we would. So we continue meddling in mundane tasks, even though our business would triple if we could learn to delegate.
We don’t want to fire that client because we’re afraid that they’ll slander your name. So we stay with them even though they’re hurting our business and well-being.
This list could go on and on, couldn’t it?
Don’t let fear stop you.
Those four examples hit close to home for me. In fact, they’re all personal examples.
I’ve been the one to skip the sales call. I’ve faked interest in a store when what I really wanted to do was make a deal with them. There was one time I walked into a store on a sales call and pretended I was in the wrong store. I was that scared.
Looking back, fear was the thing stopping me from winning.
When we’re in the moment, the fear of failure seems like it far outweighs the chance of success. But things change in hindsight. Take a look back at the moments when you’ve let fear control you.
The fears seem smaller now, don’t they?
And sometimes, the regret seems bigger over time.
So how do we prevent the regret from building over time?
Don’t let fear stop you in the moment.
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Photo: Flickr/Max Milkovitsch
