What if? Just what if? and I would say it is not what if it was possible, rather the problem starts with us thinking it is impossible, or never taking that step.  Far too often afraid of leaving the safety zone of our little income and JUMPING.  Jumping is scary and you don’t need to throw yourself off the cliff, but you certainly need to let go of the fear.

There is one line in common from all the books, interviews, articles and so on that, I read from people who have achieved it all.  They let go, or they had no fear. What’s the worst thing that could have happened? Start again.

Georgina Morello puts it very eloquently in her book. Speaking about her lack of action she finally nails it down to fear. As she says “It was primarily fear, fear of the unknown, fear of surrendering, but most of all, fear of being judged.”  BANG. like a nail.  If I had to admit, I have had this fear as well.  What will they say or think of me if I fail?  Will I be labeled? Will I lose all my credibility?  Will I be able to work or find a job? and will they hire me knowing that I have failed?  These are the myriads of doubts and fears that I have equally lived with but pushed through.  It is not that you will not have them. It is not that these feelings won’t exist, but it is how you have to learn to deal with them.

As Georgina very rightfully adds “Western culture teaches us to see failure as something negative.  We are conditioned to avoid it like the plague”.  Even the VCs lie that they welcome failure.  If you look at the stats, they will always back someone who has an exit rather than the one who has 10X failure.  No wonder we are afraid of failure.

The failure label applies to everything.  I do a lot of public speaking and pitching classes. Will I lose my stature? Will they hire me if I don’t win? Well, only two weeks ago I competed at my local speaking club competition only to come third.  I was out of the game, only the first and second go forward for the next round, but this wasn’t going to stop me.  I realised that there was another club in our area that had no participants.  So I registered in that club and I was able to enter the Area competition.  I  delivered a totally new speech. All about my experience of falling off the roof and how I did not let it stop me from working. I came third again (out of five). My objective is to push myself. I had another chance to try again, to deliver a better speech and if I don’t win, I have learnt new things. I have tested more techniques in front of a larger audience.  What’s more interesting is that I knew that there are two good speakers who of course deserved 1st and 2nd, my objective was to push myself to be better than them. The only way I could do that was by trying and competing even if that meant losing again.

Win? We all want to win. Is it possible? Yes. Ask the winner. They have all lost but they all fought for it. All you need to do is start, beleive in it, get comfortable with losing, making mistakes and not caring about what others think.  It is your life, your choice, your chance and if you dare to take that chance there are hundreds of opportunities for you to live your dreams rather than just flirt with your daydreams.

If you are struggling and not sure where to start. Book a discovery call with me.