Facing the Fear Factor

Do you know what Billy Joel, Henry Ford and Lance Armstrong have in common? They never gave up. They failed their way to success with passion and persistence. One look at history reveals this is the single most common thread of all successful people - they faced their fear and did it anyway. Whenever we do this we become fearless. Kinda sorta…

After living in Houston for 20 years as a motivational speaker and professional piano entertainer, I was of the opinion that life was pretty good, in spite of pesky hurricanes and high humidity that makes for bad hair days. It was the summer of 2001 and I was cruising along in my comfort zone, happy as can be, dating a cute guy, and watching reruns of CSI every Monday night. Then September 11th happened and the bottom fell out of the speaking business. As if to add salt to the wound, suddenly no one wanted the program I’d been doing for years. No one wanted to hear about reducing negativity in the work place – they had enough negativity coming at them from all directions. My phone stopped ringing, my bank account dwindled and my boyfriend left me. All I needed was a pick up truck and a dog and I was a living, breathing country & western song. Really.

In desperatio
I turned to some of my speaker colleagues for advice. They said you need to change your topic and do more of what you do best which is to entertain people. I butted heads with them ranting and raving that all I needed was new clients and new ways of marketing. Besides, what was wrong with my old program? I always got great evaluations. Why should I have to change? What did they know anyway – they’d only been in the speaking biz since the earth was cooling.

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever been stuck in a rut doing the same old thing because you were too afraid to try something new? We all know the definition of insanity - it’s doing the same old thing the same old way and expecting different results. Duh!

Letting go of my Aussie hard headed stubbornness turned out to be a smart move. From the very first time I presented my new keynote on Change it was a huge hit. Playing the piano during my presentation was the unique angle needed to set me apart from the masses of speakers out there.

Thriving is about being willing to change and change is about being open minded. Leave your ego at the door and be open to new ideas. Brainstorm with successful people in the industry you want to work in. Make a list of words that best describe your strengths and talents as seen by others. What job description leaps out as a result?

As for my speaker colleagues - although I’m grateful for their advice, don’t you just hate the sound of “I told you so?”