1) Fear of Being a Strong Leader
Successful people have high levels of expectation from the people that they hire. They know that almost everyone has more capacity, more ability and more to produce than people believe they can. They don’t hire superstars necessarily but ordinary people with a “can do” attitude. Then they place them in an environment that encourages and requires them to reach higher than they might think they can. Successful people with strong leadership skills delegate authority. They push down the decision-making process and they empower people to do things. They harness the power of their people everywhere. The ability to lead well is one of the main distinguishing traits of successful business people. Leaders are people of vision and they have the capability to communicate their vision and their thoughts. They possess an “I have a dream” approach that inspires people.
2) Fear of Being ‘found Out’ as the Dumbest in the Room
Successful people surround themselves with mavericks. Mavericks are the people who will say it like it is. They are forever questioning things. They challenge things. They cause problems and whilst a successful business person might not necessarily agree with them, they force him or her to get better and cause them to improve. Mavericks will use their voice to tell the boss that they have got it wrong and even that they suck. Most successful people are unaware of their behaviours and habits that are driving their people up the wall. It can be a good thing if they are informed of this from time to time.
3) Fear of Innovating
To be a success, it is important to be innovative. Successful people continuously second-guess the competition and come up with new ideas or decide to try new things. They refuse to be just another “me-too” operator. They are rarely satisfied. They recognize that there may be better ways of doing things and they grasp that there are additional opportunities waiting just around the next corner. They work hard on educating themselves and are thirsty for knowledge.
4) Fear of Failure
Whilst it is a human trait to not want to fail and most of us will do all sorts of things to keep ourselves from failing, it is the willingness to fail that makes people succeed. It gets them onto the leading edge and it pushes them to the outer limits. It sets those that are destined for success apart from those who will settle for mediocrity and being average.
5) Fear of Change
The old theory is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The truth of the matter is that if it ain’t broke, it soon will be and successful people know that they had better fix it ahead of time so that they don’t have big problems later on.
6) Fear to Dream
Successful people take the time to dream about accomplishing things that have not been accomplished before. They do not deal with total reality all the time. They dare to be different.
Have you ever been overcome with self-limiting fear? How about just hindered by fear of failure? Don’t rush by this next question. Pause and give this some considered thought.
What would you attempt if you knew that you could not fail? Fear is the greatest but, perhaps , the most subtle obstacle to reaching our goals. We might think we’re stalled because of other people’s objections. We might blame insufficient resources, or circumstances outside our control. But it is often our fear that keeps us from seeing a way around barriers – causing us to abandon our dreams. We can’t eliminate fear. But we can manage it and move past it.
Fear Setting
There is a great TED talk on facing our fears. It is by Tim Ferris (author of ‘Tools Of Titans’) and its called ‘Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead Of Your Goals’. He describes a written exercise that he put together, He calls it “fear-setting”. He says its like goal-setting… but different.
It consists of three pages.The first page is “What if I …?” This is whatever you fear, whatever it is that is causing you anxiety. Whatever you’re putting off. It could be asking someone out, ending a relationship, asking for a promotion, quitting a job, starting a company. It could be anything.
In the first column which is headed, “Define,” write down all of the worst things you can imagine happening if you take that step. You want 10 to 20. And then you go to the “Prevent” column. In that column, you write down the answer to: What could I do to prevent each of these bullets from happening, or, at the very least, decrease the likelihood even a little bit?
Then you go to “Repair.” So if the worst-case scenarios happen, what could you do to repair the damage even a little bit, or who could you ask for help? So one question to keep in mind as you’re doing this first page is: Has anyone else in the history of time, less intelligent or less driven than you are, figured this out? Chances are, the answer is “Yes.”
The second page is simple: What might be the benefits of an attempt or a partial success? Here you are playing up the fears and really taking a conservative look at the upside. So if you attempted whatever you’re considering, might you build confidence, develop skills, emotionally, financially, otherwise? What might be the benefits of, say, a base hit? Spend 10 to 15 minutes on this. Page three. This might be the most important, so don’t skip it: “The Cost of Inaction.” Humans are very good at considering what might go wrong if we try something new. This might be asking for a raise or whatever. What we don’t often consider is the atrocious cost of the status quo – not changing anything. So you should ask yourself, if I avoid this action or decision and actions and decisions like it, what might my life look like in, say, six months, 12 months, three years? Any further out, it starts to seem intangible. And get really detailed — again, emotionally, financially, physically, whatever. The chances are you’ll see that inaction is no longer an option for you. So these are the three pages as recommended by Tim Ferris. Now its down to you – have a go at fear-setting.
How Do I Know This?
Like you, I’ve been in the driver seat of a business, and found myself spinning wheels. The fear nearly killed me, and I burned out before I decided enough was enough.
Working with business owners as a coach today, it never ceases to amaze me how much pain business owners are willing to endure before facing their fears and making a shift. You can read more about my journey from legal professional, to business owner, to #1 business coach here:
