Making Friends with Fear

Let’s address one thing right here, right now. I am a very fearful human being. There’s a lot out there that scares me. Melanoma. Public displays of affection. People with too many tattoos. Tobacco. Driving in the rain. Speaking in front of large crowds. Komodo dragons. Snakes. Particularly dark clouds. Dying alone. Fist fights. Swans. The scratchy sound warm-up pants make when the legs rub together. That weird rattling sound at the back of airplanes... In fact, when I began my career in sales at Excalibur 20-something years ago, I was terrified. What if I made mistakes? What if I didn’t meet my quota? What if I said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time? What if i’m a fraud and they should have hired someone else?

In our careers and in our lives, there are going to be many times when we have to own that deep-seated pit in our stomach and face our fears. It took me a long time to become comfortable as a salesman. To accept each paycheck with a “thank you” and not a “are you sure I deserve this?” But I got there. By waking up and greeting every day (and its inherent challenges) with a smile and a promise to myself that I wouldn’t back down. No matter how much my fearful brain told me to.

Now, 20 years later, I’m making another jump to a different type of work. There are real dangers involved in this X-Force gig. We’re fighting bad guys. Jumping out of planes… But I’m handling it. I’m facing my fears like I did 20 years ago. I’m believing in myself more than I ever have before. And you know something?

I’m becoming a better person for it.