Kill the Fear

You may have been asked this question before, “What would I do if I couldn’t fail?”  In fact, I have asked this question at my live seminars or it’s sister question, “If money wasn’t an issue, what would you do with your business and/or your life?”

I just read an interesting blog post, “Scared of Failing?  Ask Yourself These 6 Fear-Killing Questions” by Warren Berger on the Fast Company website.  The questions come from a book by Warren Berger, “A More Beautiful Question“.

Here’s the deal:  Fear exists and so do financial constraints.

Incidentally, I have worked for and known very wealthy people and guess what, they have the fears and financial constraints, as well.

Berger suggests asking different questions (which I think are brilliant).  His questions addresses what’s real for each of us.

Here they are:

1.  What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

2.  What if I fail, how will I recover?

3.  What if I do nothing?

4.  What if I succeed?

5.  What’s truly worth doing, whether you fail or succeed?

6.  In this failure, what went right?

Question #1 for me is the idea of having a really big vision and of living in your passion.  I love what I do and I make a good living doing it – it doesn’t get much better than that.  And there is still room to play a bigger game.

I almost think question 2 should read, “When I fail, how will I recover?”  You will fail and so will I.  Not at everything, obviously, but certainly at some things.  Let’s assume that there will be many hurdles along the way and plan for recovery.

What if I do nothing?  If you want to test your passion, drive and motivation for something, ask that question.  If doing nothing doesn’t make you feel super uncomfortable, rethink your vision.

What if I succeed? Sometimes we are more afraid of success than failure.  In fact, if you are playing a really big game, pay particular attention to this question.

What’s worth doing?  For me, this question is the key to the kingdom.  If you do what you do only for the money, you are doing yourself and your clients or customers a huge disservice.  In addition, success rarely stays for these people.

When you do have failures, not only do you want to want to know what went right, what can you learn?

I’d love to hear from you.  What do you think?  Does Warren Berger have good advice?

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