Charlie Brown and Linus are having a very serious conversation about life. Charlie Brown says, “Life is just too much for me Linus. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re really not prepared.” Linus looks at Charlie Brown, takes his thumb out of his mouth and says, “What did you want? A chance to warm-up first?”
No warm ups, no time outs, the game goes on whether we are engaged in the process or not. How do we deliver the great work we were intended for? We must embrace urgency and set fear aside.
“There is only one time that is important - NOW! It is the most important time because it the only time we have any power over.”
—Leo Tolstoy
Why should you live with urgency?
- We each start the day with the same 24 hours. How would our behavior change if we treated it like a gift and were more intentional about how we live and who and what receives our time and attention.
- We can increase our impact on the most important people in our lives.
- We can advance towards accomplishing our most significant goals and dreams.
- We will experience greater joy from the small pleasures in our lives and be more aware of the blessings we might be overlooking.
Urgency and purpose get set aside for someday. Someday is not a day of the week. Doing something great today, doing something bold today, doing something impactful today brings us face-to-face with our fears.
Our fear is more about pictures we draw in our minds than reality. Fear is the small voice in your head that says you can’t do it, it won’t work, you’ll fail, no one will buy it, you can’t sell it, you can’t win, no one will read it, or they won’t see you.
Fear comes from the boss who doesn’t support you, the parent who never gave you their blessing, past failures, comparing ourselves to others, telling ourselves it is not our time, consistently quitting before finishing, letting doubt take root, and the list goes on.
“Do what you fear and fear disappears.”
— David Joseph Schwartz
Push fear aside.
- Start somewhere, start small, but get started. Failure is not final unless we allow it to be.
- Don’t let fear push you into mind-less and unproductive activities. When learning and pursuing new skills it is easy to fall back into the comfort of bad routines and habits.
- Build a plan. You will gain confidence when you have an executable plan.
- Establish an accountability partner. Achievement rises up to 80% when we review our progress regularly with someone.
- Take an action that engages you in the process of learning and growing for at least 15 minutes a day.
No one has your unique gifts and talents. No one has been prepared to do what you have been uniquely called to do. No one has your unique place in history to make an impact. Remember the people we think are observing, commenting and judging are not even paying attention.
Everyone can benefit from this great message. Fear can be crippling and keep us from achieving the many rewards life can bring. Keep up the good work.
D from Detroit
Thanks! We can achieve great rewards when we lean into our fears. Funny to think of all the things I was afraid of as a kid. Every time you look back on the fears you conquered it should give us encouragement to lean into them.