Accept Fear to Find Success

You were about to walk up to the stage (or in today’s environment, to the computer) to give a speech that you’ve been prepping for weeks. With an overwhelming sense of excitement, nervousness, and fear, you stepped in ready to rock it—and that’s just what you did! You felt great and received an overwhelming amount of praise afterward. How did you do it? Chances are you accepted the uncomfortable feelings, nerves and fear leading up to the event, and pressed forward.

Finding success through acceptance is all about defining what success means to you, and accepting all the feelings of fear and anxiety along the way. Here are a couple simple steps you can take to find success, regardless of your circumstances. 

Define Your Idea of Success

What better way to practice accepting fear than by putting yourself in a position that makes you uncomfortable? That’s exactly what I did when I moved to China many years ago. With an inherent desire to live differently, and an unwillingness to accept the status quo, my husband and I packed up and moved to a place we’ve never been (Shanghai), with less than $1,000 in our pockets, four suitcases, two cats, and a whole bunch of hope—hope that it was going to workout, and acceptance of the fact that we could change course if it didn’t. I didn’t have many tangible resources, but I had powerful intangible resources—mainly, accepting that I was taking a risk, and in taking that risk I was doing something that I thought would bring me fulfillment and success. My vision of fulfillment and success is adventure, and with adventure comes risk and fear. It’s important to not let the lingering uncertainty and worry stop you from taking steps toward fulfilling your definition of success.

Set High Goals to Break Free From the Ordinary

I recently became the president of Image3D, a fantastic company that makes customizable 3D viewers. Image3D is a business that was founded by my father and is located in my hometown. After living overseas for so long, I was concerned about going back into the family business. This is where I worked through high school and college—would this regress my trajectory for adventure? Fortunately, it wasn’t long until I realized how running a manufacturing company during a global pandemic is really an adventure! Over time though, regardless of the position you hold, the novelty of a role can wear off, which is why it’s so important to find ways to break free from the ordinary. I like to do this by setting high goals for myself then figuring out how to get from point a to point b. The great thing is that you don’t need to be an entrepreneur or a leader of a company to experience success and adventure in your work. The trick is to set your goals outside of your comfort zone and push yourself every day.

From defining what success means to you, to setting goals to get there, one thing’s for certain: the presence of feelings, thoughts and emotions can easily take you off course. The good news is that you have the ability to stay on track. Accept the reality of being uncomfortable, accept the fear, and go get it!