Do Something That Scares You
Today, I’m going to do something scary that I have to do. In my Life on Fire program, I’m always encouraging people, “Do something that’s scary and push yourself out of your comfort zone.” Because that’s how you grow as a person and how you grow your business.
I’ll be honest, I have successfully avoided doing it all week, I even tried to cheat my way out of doing it. Instead, my wonderful, long-suffering husband is actually going to help me do it. The thing that I really didn’t want to do, and I get itchy thinking about, is making a series of cold calls.
I’ve got this really great presentation that I am now offering for free to any association or club, anywhere in the world. I usually charge a speaker’s fee, but I’m not charging one this time. And so, what I have to do is call all of these associations that I don’t know and convince them to let me come in and actually speak to their members.
It sounds really simple. I know my presentation is great and it will help many people, but cold calling is not my thing. But every time I put it off, I am reminded of my very first manager out of university, Iain Stewart, when I was at Maple Leaf Foods. He said, “Do something that scares you every single day.”
That’s a great mantra to say and hear. Until you actually come up to doing it. Then that mantra gets thrown out the window. My husband reminds me, “the first time you do that call, it’s going to be difficult, but afterwards it will become progressively easier.” He’s right. Because in my past I have done things that I found scary and the more I did them the less intimidating they were. Those were the moments that I grew.
Today, when I woke up knowing that I had to do the calls, I found myself with a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat. Every part of me was fighting against doing these cold calls and I could feel my body shutting down. I’m sure there are some of you out there who have also worried yourself into physical sickness, some even permanent sickness. But I had to remind myself that I know that my body is trying to freak out and shut down to keep me from doing the things I need to do today. I made one call. I did it. And now my husband is going to help me with the rest.
Sometimes, it’s okay to have someone hold your hand or check in on you to see if you’ve done what you’ve planned to do. It will encourage you and drown out some of the anxiety that is shouting in your head.
My husband told me a fun fact about cold calling. He has achieved the greatest success by calling people on Fridays. I don’t know what you do, if you even make calls, but when do you get your best success? What’s your best day of the week? I really need help with this. For the next week this is my main goal in addition to my clients and coaching program.
Please remember that reaching out to people, asking for help, it is not a sign of failure or weakness. You’re not stupid. You’re not less smart than the next guy just because you’ve asked for help. It’s actually great that you are asking for help because smart people look for answers from other smart people.
Go do something that scares you, and if it scares you to scare yourself, try to bring someone in who can encourage you to do the scary thing. Maybe they can help you or hold your hand. Whatever it takes for you to get that thing done.