Be Fearless

February 23rd, 2009

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”

These famous and impactful words came from Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 during the country’s biggest financial crisis in history. Today, his words have even more meaning than ever before.

Skip ahead 76 years and our nation is feeling that same fear all over again. We’re fearful for our jobs, our well-being, the unknown.

Fear is also a common theme in business. Have you ever felt blocked on your projects? Unable to move forward in your job? For most people, what’s standing in their way is FEAR. Fear of failure. Fear of looking bad. Fear of looking like they don’t know what they’re doing.

AND, the more people focus on this fear, the more it paralyzes them. While it is important to be aware of the realities around us, we can’t let them be the driving factors of our actions. You must focus on where you want to go, not what could go wrong along the way.

This is is where true leadership comes into play. You’ve got to do what others are unwilling to do. Not unable, but unwilling to do. And you will need courage for this, because it may not just be a scary place, it’s a place you’ve never been.

Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of ‘you can’t’ once and for all.”
- Vincent Van Gogh, October 1884

Go forward this day, this week and this month with courage in your heart, and be willing to take on the impossible. Remember, ‘you can’.

Entry Filed under: PM Leadership