fear.less — John Reggio

fear.less is a new online magazine that tells stories of people who overcame their fears and wound up victorious. Seth Godin has an article in this month's edition with some remarkable insights on fear. Real fear is when you're in the desert and there's no water. Real fear is when you're in the woods and run into a bear. Real fear is primal. The fear that you and I experience isn't really fear. It's anxiety. Why do we worry so much? Why are we afraid? What's the worst that can happen? Maybe we'll succeed. I think that's it. We're afraid of success. If I fail, I'm not going to starve and I can certainly pick myself up off the ground and get back to life, but if I succeed then what happens to me? That's really what's driving our anxiety. If I give a customer great service they're going to call me more often. If I make an extra sales call I'm not going to have time to enter my contracts. I have a great idea to pitch, but what happens if they really like it? If we double revenues over 3 years we'll have to add a large amount of staff and all those people and our investors will be looking to me for direction. Wow! Success can be scary. The thing is, if we can get past our anxiety, and do something meaningful it's bound to be exhilarating.

Don't be afraid of the things you have to do. Simplify; clarify; focus. Put your anxiety behind you. Accomplish great things. There's nothing holding you back.