What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?
July 1, 2008 by Kenton Newby
I was re-reading a book I picked up a few years ago and thought I'd share it with you here. The title of the book is "Who Moved My Cheese". It's a bit difficult to explain briefly, but it's basically about dealing with change in life. It's a much better book than that description makes it sound and I highly suggest you pick up a copy. It's pretty short and even has large print, so you can get through it in a couple of sittings at most.
As the story unfolds, one of the characters realizes that he's really just plagued by fear of the changes going on around him, to the point of being paralyzed and doing nothing. Then he asks himself the question that I used as the title for this blog post. So with that in mind…
What Would YOU Do If You Weren't Afraid?
I think all of us entrepreneurs have fears crop up from time to time. I even spoke to a very successful family friend with her own consulting business of 20+ years who said she still has doubts from time to time. So certainly, those of us on the front end of this journey have fears and doubts sometimes.
But that question is a pretty compelling one to think about. If you've been learning about online business for a little while, you probably know most of what you need to know to be successful. There may be some technical skills you could get better at, better copywriting or other things. But for the most part, there's not all that much to understand. And quite honestly, you'll never know it all…it's a continuous learning process. So most of the time, lack of success can probably be boiled down to fear.
You might not even think you're afraid. I know because that's how I am. Instead, the fear may be masking itself as confusion, too many choices, not enough time, or some other excuse. But if you think about it, most of those are just forms of fear - fear that you'll choose the wrong market, the wrong product, that no one will buy it, that it'll take too long to make and so on.
But put all that aside and just ask yourself what you would do if you weren't afraid.
You'd probably go ahead and create that product, put those videos on YouTube, start that blog and get your articles posted, start promoting your affiliate program, or whatever else is eating at you…right? Especially if you already saw those things working for someone else.
If you're tring to figure out what to do (or what to do next), thinking through the answer to this question might be a worthwhile exercise to go through.
I also suggest getting a copy of this book. It's on my list of books to go back through at least once a year. There are a lot of great little lessons packed in to a fun and easy-to-read story.
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I agree. People are too afraid to move outside of their comfort zone, but it is necessary to do that to achieve any level of success.
Self-sabotage is a big issue that people must get around. The other side of us can't be fought. It is necessary for our balance but it is important to avoid being drag down by him/her.
Hendry,
I totally agree. And I think that most of us know this when we really sit and think about it. But sometimes it's easy to let all that negative self-talk get in the way. So it's good to be reminded of these things from time to time.
Thanks for the comments.
Kenton
I was in the US Marine Corps for 8 years and the thing that stuck with me it to not be afraid. Each time a boss begins saying "I need someone to…" I stood and said "I'll do it." I've been doing the same thing over the 20 years after the Corps and I can promise that it is a way to get ahead in the business world.
No Fear.
I enjoyed your post, you are right that fear holds a lot of people back.
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I read this book a long time ago, but it's great. It's strange sometimes achieving success can be more scarier than failure because once you get to the top, there is less crowd to hide behind.
Check out the latest blog post from Susan's site: Let it Snow