Saturday, April 12, 2008

Your Greatest Obstacle As An Entrepreneur

I was thinking tonight about when I was a kid, anything was possible. I had microscopic surgery on my hand at a very early age and the doctors told my parents I would never be able to use my left hand for anything even as simple as opening and closing a door. Now, many years later, I use my left hand as well as anyone. Reason being , Kids do not understand being told they can't do something so they just do it anyway. As Children we are testing boundaries as it is and determined to do anything we are told we can't.

As adults, we lose something, let me rephrase that, we gain something...fear of failure. Some of us use that fear as a driving force to propel us forward, working harder to achieve what we want while others use it as an excuse for why they are where they are in life. They simply give in to that fear and never try. To some, trying and failing is worse than not trying. Fear can be your greatest obstacle as an entrepreneur or it can be your driving force. Which is it to you?

7 comments:

Brenda Franzo said...

My driving force to succeed as an entrepreneur is that I really want it bad enough. I love working from home and being able to do the things I love. I think passion is my driving force, not necessarily fear. Sure, I don't want to fail, but fearing failure is not an option. Nice post. Brenda
http://www.theprosperitycastnetwork.com/brendafranzo

Anonymous said...

What an interesting question. Fear is my driving force, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of disappointing others, fear of disappointing myself, fear of being homeless, fear of growing old without having really lived first.... the list is endless.

Sometimes those things (events) that I fear are so diametrically opposed that it successfully keeps me completely paralized. Other times it sends me frantically running in yet another direction.

And yet, people around me see me as pretty much fearless. Interesting. Thanks for this.

Jack Payne said...

Unfortunately, the axiom, "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried," is the driving force for so many people.

Sandra said...

Great points! Most emerging entrepreneurs forget the basic principle that those who have achieved greatness, have failed many times before they breakthrough to their success.

Anonymous said...

We talked about this once before in our blog / podcast, it's such a great subject. We believe that successful people look at failure as an opportunity to learn. So the faster you fail, the faster you learn. Fail often enough and you have a leg up on all of those people who fear failure.

We also recommend the book "I Can’t Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan. Great post!

George and Mary-Lynn

Unknown said...

Hehe
I don't have any fear of failure I see many opportunities and there is always a way to reach them :). And yes just with trying people learn a lot. Read the books, be the observer, know how system works and you'll find your way to success. If I'll ever succeed I'll try to help as many people as possible to succeed too :)
this is my style "give and you'll be received"
well good luck everyone :)

Anonymous said...

Ah the "F" word! I write extensively about the psychology of love and one of my friends made the observation the other day that I had never mentioned "fear' in my writing. She said, "Hate is not the opposite of love, it's fear." How right she is. Fear is what holds us back in all parts of our lives...in love, in relationships, in work...everywhere. It is the one emotion that is truly limiting. Fear is no driving force, it takes us nowhere. In my view, it ranks right down in the pits with blame. Neither fear nor blame do anything for us. They gain us nothing. Thanks for the post!