"The essence of leadership is being aware of your fear (and seeing it in the people you wish to lead). No, it won't go away, but awareness is the key to making progress." - Seth Godin
If you are successful at something you can be successful at anything. What defines success is different for everyone, but the mindset we have when we are successful at anything can be carbon copied and lead us to success in any area we focus on.
The world has no shortage of ideas, even great ideas, but what makes one a success and others destined to stay in the nowhere zone of our minds or conversational fodder? Fear is the big inhibitor. It is a hard wired state of being that we all have. Don't get me wrong, fear has its purpose, it is part of our survival instinct, it keeps us from walking up to a saber toothed tiger to offer him a treat, and from nearing the edge of the cliff where one misstep could take us tumbling to our demise. But most of us are very blessed to live in a place where we don't have to worry about our very survival on a daily basis, though the media would tell us differently. That's (media) a whole other topic that I'll save for another day.
The somewhat crazy sector of us that are taking action and achieving successes are not immune to fear. We are just convinced that our ideas are worth facing the fear for. We are moving forward with the end in mind. We know that we are pushing our comfort zone, and we embrace it. We know that we have a product or service or story that will fill a need or help people. I used to say that failure was not an option, but a wise mentor of mine recently said "If failure is not an option, then neither is success"
This shed another layer of understanding for me on fear, failure, and success. Moving forward in the direction of our dreams does not mean having blind confidence that you will succeed, it means feeling the fear, knowing that you don't have all the answers, and taking the step anyway. Here's how in 3 simple steps.
-Step 1 Feel the fear, but attach a different meaning to it. I love acronyms because they are anchors for me and bring me back to what I know.
FEAR- False Evidence Appearing Real
FEAR- Feeling Excited And Ready
Step 2 Failure - know that this is a possibility but only if you fail to learn from it, make adjustments, and keep moving forward
Step 3 Take Action
What are the thoughts processes that go through your mind when you are successful?
Are you in the zone or in flow?
Did you have a strong idea of what success was going to look like in your mind?
Is success tied to what other people think of you?
Can you acknowledge the perceived failures you have experienced as stepping stones along the road to success?