Thursday, March 17, 2005

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

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- by Jeff McCall

You may have wandered off the safe path through the Internet business forest, or you may be wary about setting off in the first place. What's stopping you from continuing? Is there really a Big Bad Wolf waiting to jump out and finish you off?

If you're experiencing this sort of hesitancy, then a little regression therapy may be necessary. Think back to when you were a child. When you had little experience of success or failure. When you approached each new challenge with vigour and a sense of adventure.

I remember when my Dad taught me to ride a bike. If I fell off, I just got straight back on and tried again. The fact that I may fall again and again never entered my head. This was new, it was fun and I was spurred on by the prize for my endeavours; joining in with my elder brother and our mates who were already racing around on two wheels.

As children we charged forward with gay abandon into every new adventure. But as adults we hesitate and check our step. Why is that? The answer's simple! The one thing that's changed our perceptions of new and uncharted territories, like starting our own business, is fear. It may be fear of failure or fear of rejection. As Edmund Burke once said "No passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."

But is there anything wrong with failing once in a while? Certainly not! You never learn anything from doing things right all the time. Making mistakes is an essential part of the learning process. That being said, you must remember that you never learn much from a mistake the second time you make it.

Fear is an important emotion. Like the Big Bad Wolf, it provides a safety check to ensure we've thought through our actions and planned for likely outcomes. But you should never allow it to stop you from setting off on your next great adventure.

In his inaugural address of 1933, Franklin D Roosevelt famously said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Are the things we fear always realistic and tangible? I think not! We often tend to create our own 'monsters under the bed'. Take our arch nemesis the Big Bad Wolf for example. I mean, how could any hairy transvestite quadruped fool anyone into believing it was Grandma. And if it had despatched Grandma, wouldn't there have been blood stains on the eiderdown? But I digress!

These 'monsters' are barriers we create for ourselves that reside in our imagination rather than in reality. So, let's get back on that path through the Internet business forest then, and stride bravely forward. If you're fearful about starting out, or you're fearful of taking the next step, don't let that fear ruin your journey. Let it simply act as a reminder to check what's round the next bend once in a while.

What! You're still scared? OK, take along the woodcutters axe for protection if you must.

By the way, he's behind you! :-)

Be successful.

Copyright © 2001, JPM Publishing. All rights reserved.

Jeff McCall is the librarian at The Success Library, a vast collection of ebooks, articles and resources to help you achieve online success. Get your library card at http://www.thesuccesslibrary.co.uk. Subscribe to the library's free newsletter Success Lines. Free marketing course for subscribing & free ebook with every issue: subscribe@thesuccesslibrary.co.uk

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