The Client Letter
August 4, 2011
Sedona Arizona
One of my private coaching clients got me thinking about a very important decision that every independent professional faces at some point in their career:
That decision is whether to play big or play small…
Not stepping out of your comfort zone… letting your clients dictate the quality of your life and business…
That’s playing small.
Showing up, being accountable, taking full responsibility for your life and setting big goals…
That’s playing big.
Playing big is seriously risky business.
It’s risky because when you take a bold stand like that, the chances are better than not that, at some point, you will fall flat on your face.
You might even fall hard. When you do, you’ll probably feel stupid. You may even look stupid.
What can you do about it?
Get used to it. Get over it. Go on.
The higher you’re flying the farther you have to fall. That’s just physics. No one is immune.
You could just spend your life flying along the ground. Not too far to fall there. But the view sucks. And it doesn’t pay well either. Mainly because anyone can do it.
But not everyone has the guts to go through life flying at 40,000 feet. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it… in my opinion.
A lot of people are simply afraid. Fear keeps them from taking off.
The fear can be even worse in our business. Because when you’re an independent professional, there’s really nothing and no one to hide behind.
When the fit hits the shan, you’re the only person standing.
That takes some real guts.
The only reason it takes guts, though, is because we’ve all been raised with the C.W.O.T. software program installed in our brains.
That’s the core issue here.
C.W.O.T. stands for “Care What Others Think.”
It’s a terrible program. Worse than any virus I’ve ever seen. And it’s responsible for helping people live their lives in utter mediocrity.
How can you uninstall this program?
Well, uninstall isn’t the right word for the process I’d recommend. Because it’s not like you should just pretend you don’t feel a certain way, even when you do.
That’s hardly healthy. And it’s totally inauthentic.
You sure don’t want to just use brute force and try to get rid of it either. That only feeds it by directing your energy towards it.
Instead, just let it be. If you care what others think and you know it, just let that feeling be.
And then take bold action in spite of it.
What happens to your fears when you stare them in the face and act anyway?
They will lose their favorite food source and those fears will leave and go pick on someone else.
And that’s when you will start to fly.