Two Reasons We Don’t Try Harder

They Both Lead To Fear
They Both Lead To Fear

Look, all of us dream big dreams.  This is an endowment from our creator.

And when we were kids, we had no inhibitions about pretending and fantasizing. I mean, we were 100% okay walking around with chocolate smeared on our faces, and we couldn’t give a hoot if our clothes didn’t match.

Heck, we’d even walk around in public, naked. Or wear a smelly diaper. We didn’t care. Not for a nano-second.

But look at us now. Fear paralyzes us. And it all comes down to two simple reasons:

  1. Fear of Failure
  2. Fear of Success

It’s this fear of success that is the stealth robber of our childhood dreams.

We all have within us another endowment. One which needs our attention, before it’s too late.

Can You Take Initiative?

Quit Monkeying Around
Quit Monkeying Around

Humans are fearful creatures. Fear is a gift bestowed on us  to help us survive.

Funny thing is though, Saber-Toothed Tigers are extinct, yet we live as if we might get eaten.

When we hear people complain about their boss, the Government, their colleagues, you know what that person is really complaining about?

They are really complaining about their own insecurities to take initiative and thrive, instead of simply surviving.

As people read this, a third will embrace it, a third will not care, and a third think I’m an idiot.

Life goes on.

I Feel Sorry

Poisonous Thinking
Poisonous Thinking

I feel sorry for all the leaders who are so busy trying to survive. Why? Because I’m one of them too.  And so are you. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You know the pain. The anxiety. The fear. The doubt.

It’s the odorless, colorless, invisible poison that sucks creativity, risk-taking and most importantly, innovation, right out of the room.

And what is the most frustrating, for nearly everyone, is that we all pretend that everything is fine.

It isn’t.

The antidote?

Ah, if I told you, you’d be happy in knowing it, but you wouldn’t do anything with it.

Would you?

PS. Like Tuesday’s post claimed, nothing is private anymore. Learn to live in this new atmosphere. It ain’t going away.

Who Needs A Spanking?

Get In Line
Get In Line

Sometimes we need the proverbial spanking, or maybe a kick in the buttocks, to rattle our cage enough to do what’s common sense but not common practice.

Ask yourself, “Why don’t I have a personal vision/mission statement?”

Imagine a child – maybe your child, niece or nephew – asking you, very seriously, “What’s the meaning of life?”

We expect everyone else to have a clue.  But not ourselves.

Mind-boggling.

Then one lucky day, someone did me the favor of a major cage rattling, and I finally did something about it.

Any other way is just lame.

One Simple Tip to Avoid Waiting

Want a tip to help you resist the urge to wait? In a moment, I’ll share what happened last month, what I did about it, and how it impacted my leadership philosophy.

But it’s a double edge sword isn’t it?  If consistency is the hallmark of quality, and continuous improvement is the key to becoming world class, how do you balance risk and reward?

Faced with a opportunity to do something the way I’ve always done it, or a way I’ve been dreaming about but always chicken out, I was once again presented the opportunity, but was afraid I’d pass on it again.

But not this time.  Finally choose the way I had envisioned.

It was amazingly exhilarating!  Why?  Which is a good question because the thing I did differently, was actually very small in the big scheme of things.

Then why was it exhilarating?  Because conquering a small fear builds the confidence to conquer another small fear.

Eventually, the fears that get conquered are bigger and bigger, until we are faced with very little fear that we can’t act on.

Well, we will always come across scary things, but the confidence to confront and conquer is a priceless ROI for small risk taking habit.

The key, the simple tip – “Do at least one thing each day that scares you.”