“What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Recently on Facebook I was asked about Fear of Failure and Fear of Success.
Fear of failure or success has haunted many would-be successful people. To put it bluntly, graveyards are filled with countless intentions that were never acted upon because of fear. Fear is generally about control. People with a fear of flying don’t really have a fear of flying, they have a fear of crashing. The mind is so powerful it can make something seem real that has not yet occurred.
Recently, a young man told me that he could not get a job and I asked him how many had he applied for. He replied, “none.” I challenged him to get 33 rejection letters or emails in a row, and if he did I would take him to dinner and give him $100 dollars. After checking on him a few months later, he was unable to collect on the bet because he was gainfully employed after only 7 rejections.
Bamboo Rule: Success awaits those who are willing to deal with rejection.
Fearing rejection before you apply for a job is normal. Nobody wants to get rejected but there is no reason to assume the answer is no. What if you went for the rejection? After studying the most successful people I found that they had the ability to recover from failure or rejection. In other words, they kept on watering. In Water The Bamboo® I recommend creating a vision board—I call mine a success board—it inspires me and keeps my vision vivid. I can see it, feel it, even smell it—this helps me stay focused. When I reach a milestone or suffer a setback I am not thrown off my vision.
Bamboo Rule: The turtle only moves when it sticks its neck out.
To learn more about how you can achieve success by pushing through rejection, read Chapter 16, Take Risks in Water The Bamboo®: Unleashing The Potential Of Teams And Individuals.
SUCCESS Media featured Greg Bell in their latest Audio Series. Greg was interviewed on the topic of building teams by Darren Hardy, SUCCESS Magazine’s Publisher & Editorial Director. The interview was produced as an audio CD in the SUCCESS Achiever’s Pack and distributed to subscribers of the monthly SUCCESS Club. Although the full interview is not available for purchase, below is a six-minute clip for you to enjoy.
