The four letter word that keeps us from success

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What’s the thing that stops countless people from realizing ultimate professional success? The economy, competition, oil prices? Nope. As challenging as these external factors can be, nothing comes close to the power of your largest obstacle - fear. A four-letter word that costs unsuspecting and unknowing people millions of dollars.

We all have it. Prime-time television shows are based on it. You’ve seen them. Knowing victims are thrown into the situations they fear the most - into a pit of insects or rodents, jumping from buildings, underwater drills. These contestants realize they have a clutching fear and want to break it. Why? Could be the huge prize money at the end and probably a combination of not liking their fear.

Humans have an important protection instinct - fight or flight. When we fear something that we believe can harm or even kill us, our body has two primary reactions: fight (defend our position) or flight (run like heck).

As humans however, we have an even more powerful ability to analyze and understand. We can step back from our fear and determine if it is worthy of the flight instinct. Maybe we have given it more power than it deserves and conquering this fear will bring us more than any prize money we could win on a game show.

Consider that the only true failure is not playing the game. By not playing, you continually avoid failure, but you neither lose nor win.Fear is normal. Fear is a sign that you are growing and developing. Developing as a person involves getting outside your comfort zone. Moving outside your comfort zone usually creates some sense of fear. Fear is not the problem …the problem is how we respond to our fear.

Fear feeds on the unknown. If starting your own business creates fear for you, you can combat this by doing your homework. The more you know the less there is to fear!

Specifically, you could:

• Start learning about how to run a business: take a course, read some business books, talk to other successful business owners.
• Do your market research – you might have a great idea but have you researched its viability?
• Develop a business and marketing plan. Get help with this if you are not confident in creating them.
• Ask yourself questions like: what are the things you are worried about? What strategies can you create to prevent these outcomes?
• All business carries a level of risk. Get real about the risks your business idea has and start making plans to minimise them.

While I encourage you to learn as much as you can to ensure your business idea has the ability to succeed, the one thing you must do to succeed is take action.

After all, it doesn’t matter how much you know or how much you learn – if you are not “doing” it, it won’t make any difference at all.