Good-grief I am afraid of things.
Aren’t you?
Some are afraid of what people will think, what people will say, what people might do.
Others are afraid of failure.
- Maybe you want to write something but are afraid to have it judged.
- Maybe you want to trade but are afraid you will lose money.
- Maybe you want to start a business but are afraid you won’t break-even.
- Maybe you want to call that girl but are afraid she will say no.
Well, I have news for us all: Fortune favors the bold.
Writer Robert Greene touches on this in his book, The 48 Laws of Power (Amazon):
“LAW 28 ENTER ACTION WITH BOLDNESS – If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.”
Be bold!
Write it and put it out there. Start trading. Start the small business. And call the girl!
Let me say it like this: Life is so short. We are never promised tomorrow. And you will never live today again.
Let’s not look back and wish we had lived differently.
Let’s not look back and realize we never even tried.
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”
-W. H. MURRAY, Mountaineer and Writer
If the first key is boldness, the corollary to boldness is persistence.
Persistence seems cliche – but I can’t count the number of successful people that keep pointing to persistence as a major key to their success.
I even read the other day that a study found, 90% of salesmen give up after the 4th sales call.
And you know what else the same study found?
80% of sales are made after the 5th sales call!
That’s a lot of sales going to a small percentage of the salesmen that are persistent.
Let’s be bold. And let’s call that girl 5 or 6 times if need be.
“If there’s one piece of advice I can give to young people, to kids trying to break out of Brooklyn and Kankakee, it’s this: persist, push, hang on, keep going, never give up. When the man says no, pretend you can’t hear him. Look confused, stammer, say, “Huh?” Persistence—it’s a cliché, but it happens to work. The person who makes it is the person who keeps on going after everyone else has quit. This is more important than intelligence, pedigree, even connections. Be dogged! Keep hitting that door until you bust it down! I have accomplished almost nothing on the first or second or even the third try—the breakthrough usually comes late, when everyone else has left the field.”
-Jerry Weintraub, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead (Amazon)
