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What Road Are You On? Discover ways to be courageous and control your fears when making major decisions and wondering what direction to take. A monthly ezine for organizations, business owners and professionals who want to excel.MARCH 2002 IN THIS ISSUE Greetings and welcome to all of you. We are delighted to send you another issue of KEYS TO SUCCESS. Thank you for joining us. Our commitment is to give you practical information and inspirational ideas to benefit your business and personal life. We are committed to "bringing out your best"! We welcome feedback so we can improve and offer real value to you. Any questions about your subscription? Check the end of the newsletter for information to subscribe or unsubscribe. If you like what you see, will you please help us grow by forwarding the ezine to your colleagues and friends? We truly appreciate your support. WHAT ROAD ARE YOU ON? Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side, of course! That age old question continues to delight young children. In their eyes it's a simple question with a simple answer. Adults on the other hand have fun complicating the chicken's decision to cross the road by asking more questions. What's the chicken's objective? Are there alternatives to take into consideration? What are the consequences of crossing the road? What is the tradeoff if the chicken crosses the road? In your life as well as in your business you travel on many different roads. Sometimes those roads lead to a fork or a crossroad requiring you to make decisions about what path to take. Life is more than just crossing the road. If you are on a straight two-lane road, your decisions might be simple. Like the chicken all you need to do is get to the other side. The answer doesn't require a discourse about the path you are taking. You make hundreds of such decisions everyday without giving much thought to them. What happens if the road you are currently on is a major thoroughfare with lots of intersections? Do you change your direction and make a turn or continue on your present path? What if you come to a fork in the road? These decisions are more difficult than just getting to the other side. Sometimes making decisions is like working a jigsaw puzzle. All you need to do is find the one missing piece that fits in just the right spot. Other times decision-making is complex and tests your ability to find several solutions or deal with ambiguity. When you need to make a major decision do you become a "doubting Thomas"? Crazy thoughts start to enter your mind. Your internal voice is saying, "this will never work" or "what were you thinking." Your self-doubt creates a mental paralysis and you do nothing! Or do fears set in and take over? How many times have you not done what you wanted to do because you feared failure, rejection or criticism? Self-doubt and fears are universal and experienced by everyone at some point in their lives. The good news is you have a choice about how to handle your doubts and fears. You can let your fears and self-doubt control you or you can learn how to control them. Successful people have learned how to do the latter. It takes courage to be successful. Mark Twain wrote that courage is not a lack of fear or absence of fear. Courage is the control and mastery of fear. Making decisions is a fundamental life skill and you really want to make the right decision. However, your fear is your decision will be wrong. You start waffling back and forth creating space for doubts and fears to grow. Do you stay in your comfort zone and only cross the road to get to the other side or take a risk by changing your direction and trying something new? Holding on to the status quo seems easier but it's not always the best decision. Find your courage and master your fears so you can take a new road. According to Brian Tracy, the Laws of Success tell us (1) to be bold, take action and the universe will provide forces to help us achieve our goals; (2) act as if it is impossible to fail by imagining success is guaranteed and (3) follow the Nike saying "just do it". Don't let fear and self-doubt keep you from having the life and business you dream of creating. Get behind the wheel, start your engine and remember to follow Yogi Berra's advice. When you come to a fork in the road, take it! WORDS TO INSPIRE "Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." "If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." "Do not fear mistakes, there are none." GUEST ARTICLE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT by John Colanzi I don't know about you, but I wasted a lot of time in my quest for freedom. I worried about making mistakes. That was my biggest mistake of all. You spend your youth being graded by your teachers. You take endless tests rating your performance. Your peers rate your dress and your actions. You are being conditioned to live in a world of A's, B's and C's. You judge your worth by the opinions of others. How do I know? I've been there. Every time I wanted to make a change, I would hesitate. What if I made a mistake? What if I looked stupid? You know what? It doesn't matter. If you want to accomplish your goals, you must decide that it's ok to make a mistake. You are not being graded anymore. No matter what you do, some people will not approve. Once I realized that, I was free to experiment. I could test new ideas. The feeling was liberating. I don't have to be perfect and neither do you. Do you want to write articles to promote your business? Do it. What if it's not perfect? It doesn't matter. You'll get better with practice. I write at least an article a week and I still haven't got it right. I make spelling errors, use poor grammar, but I keep plugging. I'll keep at it until I get it right. I just wrote a free ebook. So far I've revised it 5 times and will probably have to revise it another 100 times. If I waited for it to be perfect, it still wouldn't be in circulation. Don't wait to be perfect. Start from right where you are and make corrections as you go. In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, John Colanzi **************************************** RESOURCES FOR YOU How about a motivational boost? Read The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success by Brian Tracy. Brian presents a set of principles that lie behind the success of business people everywhere. You'll find a wealth of practical and inspirational information. It's an easy read! Check it out at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576751260/qid=1014875017/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4153611-8697654 Return to the Newsletter Index. |