Tomorrow marks a really important day for the future of the UK with the upcoming referendum on Europe. There has been so much said on the subject and I’m not hear to preach to you on how you vote, but rather my message today is please make a decision and take action to vote for whatever party you deem aligns with your values.
So often in life we fail to take action because we are afraid of the consequences. We are afraid of what will happen, how will others react, what will they think. But the one thing I know to be true is that when fear prevents me from taking action I always feel resentful after the fact. I spend ages wondering what would have happened if I had been courageous enough to do what I wanted to do.
And I don’t just mean for the big things in life. Often times when I look back on my life taking courageous action was easier with the bigger decisions in my life. Like going to live in America or moving to Yorkshire. Sure these massive life changing events were scary and I had some fear and anxiety about what I was doing but I was able to rationalize my decision making by saying that I could always move again if I didn’t like the outcome.
However, what I have observed is that it is often the fear associated with smaller decisions in life that really hold me back. For example, the fear that overcomes me when I have to pick up the phone and make a call to a new client. As it is such a simple act I often overlook how failing to take that action could impact my business. And why didn’t I do it. The simple answer is because I was afraid of the outcome – afraid of what the potential client might say, afraid they might not like me. My fear prevented me from being courageous and potentially experiencing a great conversation and enrolling a new client.
The quote above I think so succinctly summarizes how we need to act in life. It’s easy to overcome fear and be courageous when what we are doing is really important to us. When we are doing work aligned with our purpose, although the fear might still exist, our courage to take action is greater and so we in the words of Nike – Just Do It.
So next time you feel fear just step back, review the situation and see how being courageous and taking that action will get you closer to your goal and help you fulfill your purpose.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
