OVERCOME FEAR. EAT THAT FROG!
Nicholas Gomez
Just a flawed human, not perfect and not trying to be, rolling with life’s punches and getting through this imperfect world one rough edge at a time.
Fear and self doubt paralyzes action. At work and in business we often see how things get bogged down when no one wants to proceed with something, be it an action plan or a face-to-face meeting with an angry customer that just needs to get done.
Over the weekend I went to Janda Baik with a buddy to check out the new Moto Guzzi V85TT. Getting to the campsite meant going up a gravel road on my V7, something I'd never done before. What's the worst that could happen? I'd fall. I accepted it, kept my feet out in case it did and pushed on.
At the campsite, I noted the seat height and being only 172cm, I thought it best to skip the ride, but the riders there encouraged me to get on and give it a shot. I did and after about 115 minutes, I realised ... "Hey I'm better at this than I thought!".
Finally there was a stream that had to be crossed. Those who didn't want to could take the bridge instead. With some coaching from the guide, I decided to just do it. Lo and behold - I made it across without dropping the bike, and I had specifically requested a damaged unit thinking I would have definitely dropped it.
Getting back home that Saturday, I couldn't get the whole thing out of my mind. Mark Twain supposedly once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Note that there is no real evidence that Mark Twain really said this, but it's something worth thinking about.
So what fears do we need to overcome to become better at our jobs, to get better at what we do to drive business forward? The fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of the unknown, the fear of being uncomfortable, the fear of letting others down, the fear of not being perfect, the fear of being wrong?
As we ponder all that and our minds get locked in some sort of 'analysis paralysis', someone else is crossing that stream, or eating that frog. The more fears we overcome, the better we will be in life, and in business. Easier said than done, and many fears are deep-rooted, and there could be serious financial, safety or operational concerns involved. But whatever the case, staying still and unproductive is not the answer.
Which fears impact you and your business the most?