Fear is the mind killer; fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. You spent your entire life dealing with it, those butterflies before the game or in the crunch time. But you conquered it time and time again. You moved past it and found a way to succeed through it. Remember to carry those same skills into your next arena, the corporate world is no different from the field once you learn the rules of the game. Treat every staff meeting like a team meeting and every review like film session. Do not be afraid to have the conversation about where you stand and where to improve. Do not be afraid to leave and pivot when a role no longer serves you. Trust in your gut and the skills you have gathered up until this point. Believe in yourself the same way you did on the court, field or pitch.

 Shakespeare once said, “A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” Live your life to the fullest and live your life with no regret. This doesn’t just apply to the bump in the night or the bear in the woods. This applies to that fear of failure, that fear of letting people down. The only way to succeed is to be willing to fail. From our failures we will learn, and we will grow into something greater. According to an article posted by Dr. Eyal Winter,” The fear of regret can be worse than regret itself.” He goes on in the article to say how we are more likely to let the fear of regret stop us from making a decision before we allow actual regret to impact it. Face those fears head on and conquer them, if you fail then regroup learn from the mistake and try again. I watched a very well done TEDx talk by Rebekkah Kumar where she spoke on similar fears. She said regret and the fear of it was so important she never wanted to face it again. She allowed herself to take bolder decision so she would not have to feel that sting of regret again.

Roosevelt is credited as saying,” It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Look at your fear as the critic, for every day you wake up you step into the arena of life. Give yourself the credit for making it through the trials and tribulations that have gotten this fear. Make the choice to wake up and stare fear in the face, kick its teeth in and move on with your life. This week I want you to write down a fear that has been holding you back, acknowledge that it is there and set out every day to conquer it little by little.