How to stay brave in the face of failure

I wrote in a recent blog about my fear of having conversations which may result in someone getting angry. Because of that fear in the early days of growing my business, I would avoid conversations with clients about getting paid or treating me with respect until I couldn’t take it anymore and I would quit. However, running away didn’t solve the problem. It was only when I faced that fear that things began to change.

Wikipedia says that fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes you to quickly pull away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism. In short, fear is the ability to recognise danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response).

I worked with Peter Cook exploring the link I created between conversations and anger and I began to realise that there really isn’t a link. It wasn’t the truth and I had the power to create a different outcome. However, it wasn’t an immediate transformation and it wasn’t easy. I had to face my fears and stand my ground instead of fleeing. I started with easy conversations first and when nothing bad happened I started to face more difficult conversations. Each little step made me stronger.

Am I cured? No. I still feel the fear in the pit of my stomach and my instinct is to run away, only now I don’t. But I don’t just stand my ground either. I actually run towards it and punch through! That’s empowering.

We all have fears and some of them stop us from growing a successful bookkeeping business. You have two choices – fight or flight. If you don’t stand your ground and face your fear the issue is going to keep coming at you in different forms.

What’s your choice?