Monday, 1:42 PM
Dear Friend,
Happy new year!
I always feel a little sad when the holidays are over but I’m also glad to get back on schedule and working towards some new goals.
So this morning after I woke up and took my Athletic Greens (thanks to Chris the Kiwi) I strapped on my trusty six-string and practiced the guitar for 30 minutes.
I got off schedule while traveling and it felt good to get back into that habit.
After that, I ate a nice Colombian-style breakfast and here I sit, listening to “Big Neighborhood” by one of my favorite guitarists, Mike Stern… wondering what the heck I’m going to talk about to hopefully inspire you for the new year.
I know!
Let’s talk about something I know really well…
Fear!
Yup. I’m well acquainted with that S.O.B.
Most people do whatever it takes to avoid it, but I’ve faced that sucker head on and beat him time and time again.
I’ve stared down the receiving end of a gun barrel on several nerve-wracking occasions…
…been attacked with all manner of edged instruments, including a common household steak knife…
…been whacked upside the head by all kinds of blunt objects, including a large metal flashlight (had my partner to thank for that one)…
…fought with some low-life trying to shoot me with my own gun, having to literally bite him on the throat to survive…
…been threatened with garden implements like shovels and hoes…
…and even had a few people attempt to leave tire marks on my semi-handsome face.
And that’s just the stuff I remember. The REALLY scary stuff has been suppressed from memory.
Yes, I’ve experienced honest-to-God “I’m going to die” fear… a LOT.
As an entrepreneur you’re going to be faced with fear… but it’s never life or death fear. Ironically, your body reacts the exact same way it would if you were truly facing a life or death situation.
And you gotta learn how to deal with those feelings.
I think having truly stared death in the face on more than one occasion has helped prepare me for the kind of fear you have to deal with as an entrepreneur.
But I’ve always been able to defeat it.
And today I’m going to share
my number one secret for defeating fear!
It’s actually pretty easy.
So easy, in fact, that you might not believe it.
But I’ll get to that in just a minute.
Right now, let me share another little technique that has also worked for me when faced with fear in my entrepreneurial life…
In many cases I’ve been able to rationalize the fear away.
If I was experiencing fear about a new venture or new risk I’d think to myself, “Hey this is nothing compared to the time the guy tried to kill me with a shotgun. What’s the absolute WORST that could happen if this new venture fails?”
Then I would think about the possible worst case scenario… and in most cases it wasn’t bad at all.
Maybe I’d lose a few bucks and gain some experience… but it certainly wouldn’t KILL me.
That’s why I’ve never understood why most people don’t try to make positive changes in their lives instead of allowing themselves to be paralyzed by fear.
It makes no sense at all.
I’ve had a few friends who were highly dissatisfied with their jobs, so I tried to help them start direct response businesses, equipping them with EVERYTHING they could possibly need… wayyyy more information and help than I had before I started my first mail order business.
With the infamous Doberman Dan at their side, giving them 5-figures of direct response consulting FREE, cheering them on, sharing 15+ years of successful direct response experience… guess what they did?
They stuck their thumbs in their mouths and never even took the simplest of first steps, paralyzed by fear.
One friend, when asked why he chose to waste his time drunk in front of the TV instead of doing something for his family’s future and winning the respect of his wife and kids said…
“I’m afraid I might fail!”
OK… what if it does fail? You’re not going to die and leave your family homeless.
In fact, life will pretty much go on exactly as it did before.
You’ll just be out a few bucks and will have gained some highly valuable experience about what doesn’t work. Then you can go about finding what does work.
But what if your project does work?
It could be a “base hit” making you a few hundred or a few thousand extra dollars a month… or a HUGE home run making you a millionaire faster than you ever dreamed possible.
I’ve seen it happen… a bunch of times.
What will happen if you let your fear paralyze you and do nothing? Will things go on exactly as before?
Unfortunately not.
By all outward appearances things will go on as before… but you’re not the same person on the inside.
See, deep inside you know you allowed fear to beat you… and you lost a little bit of your soul.
You faced the fear, cowered and ran without a fight.
And you had nothing at all to lose.
All you had to do to defeat fear was to take action… ANY action.
Yup, that’s the big secret today, dear subscriber…
You defeat fear by taking ACTION!
I didn’t say the fear would go away. I said you would DEFEAT the fear.
It’s still there. You just take away its power over you by taking consistent action toward your goals and dreams.
By plopping your lazy butt in front of the TV instead of taking action, you’ve chosen to give up without a fight.
And like I said, you won’t be the same person after you choose the easy way out. You die a little on the inside.
And even more bad news, MEN…
Your wife and kids just lost all respect for you. Oh sure, they won’t say it, but you know it’s true. You can see it in their eyes.
See, they need a REAL man to lead the family, not some wimpering coward.
They’d rather see you try something and fail than succumb to fear without a fight.
Having tried and failed you can hold you head high, knowing you’ve just stepped into the elite club of “doers.”
A very small percentage of the population will ever belong to the club.
Probably 3% or less.
And once you’ve stepped out in faith and defeated fear, it’s a little easier to keep taking action and keep moving forward.
And strange things begin to happen.
Things you never imagined seem to come together at just the right time to help you.
Relationships, mentors, information, joint ventures, new opportunities… all kinds of exciting stuff seems to magically find you.
And what’s the magic ingredient that makes this all happen?
Taking ACTION!
Look, I’ve said this before… I will never teach you something I haven’t done myself.
I’m not regurgitating this stuff from some positive thinking book I read or some seminar I’ve attended.
I’ve LIVED this.
I know from 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience this is the truth.
So have a little faith in DD and do this:
- Write down a goal you want to accomplish this year and attach a date to it.
- Start taking action toward that goal each and every day.
- Look at yourself every morning in the mirror and smile… because you’re doing something most people only ever TALK about. You’re taking ACTION toward a goal.
And it feels good, doesn’t it?
Thanks a lot for letting me share this with you today.
Really… from the bottom of my heart… thank you.
You’re a part of my life and I appreciate you.
I sincerely want to see you happy and successful.
And I hope I can help in some small way.
All the best.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Whoa Dan.
5 minutes of sheer genius.
Thanks dooood.
Yeah, I’ve read it a million times but sometimes it resonates differently. And you know what? The respect of others is such a huge impact.
People will generally forgive a “doer” for this “failings” – even look on in envy at your efforts knowing they haven’t done much themselves. But they will rarely, rightly, forgive a defeatist.
Great post DD.
Hi Dan!
You’ve nailed it. Sometimes I’m that scared guy sitting in front of the tv. And you know what? It doesn’t make me feel any better. I know I should be DOING something other than watching television, so I actually feel worse. I’ve accomplished quite a bit I feel, but there’s always more that I’d like to do. Time is precious and wasting it is a terrible, terrible thing. Thanks for a VERY inspiring post. BTW, I love your writing style and the way you tell it like it is with your stories. Keep it up and wishing you the best in 2010.
thanks for gittn’ my butterflys flying in formation again…this post reminds me of the old adage ” a coward dies a thousand deaths when a brave man dies once”. –thanks Dan!
Your right on Dan.
This year has been real bad. Actually 2009 was my worst year ever.
In my construction business that I closed I lost over 100k. I could see it happening but couldn’t stop the losses. Then on july 27 th I stopped home for lunch and by chance I was their to get a phone call from a major in the US Army. He was reporting to me that my son was seriously wounded in battle in Afganistan, he had lost a limb and they didn’t know if he would make it, so they were getting information from me and my wife so they could fly us to Germany in case he couldn’t make it back to the states alive. Well he did make it and has had been getting unbelievable great care at Walter Reed Hospital. Since then we’d had other small setbacks and since July I questioned my faith and had felt lost and defeated..
During the last two weeks my son was home for the hoilday’s and a strange thing has happened I realized I’m very lucky. I live in a great country, I have my health, money can be made again and my son is alive. This past week I decided to do just what your prescribing. I’m taking massive action. I still have alot to learn about making money on the internet. My one accomplishment this year is to take massive action and combine it with speed of implementation.
Thanks for another great post.
Hey Dan,
I got to hear the rest of the stories about these unknown assailants trying to kill you!
Via hoes, digging implements, your own firearms, attempted vehicular homicide… you should create a whole post on each one of those incidents… maybe a “series” of posts – and then you can shoe horn some sort of direct response principle in there!
What do you say?
-Chris
Amazing post Dan, as usual!
Bill
Excellent advice, Dan. Nearly every business problem can be fixed by taking action. Even if taking the wrong action, we generally learn and self-correct.
Ryan
Dan,
Hell with losing the respect of the wife and kids! If you stick your head in the sand instead of at least trying something, you lose the respect of the one person whose respect you REALLY need: YOURSELF!
You mentioned the “fight or flight response” when a person is faced with the fear of failure, as if it was life and death. Well, every year about 3% of American adults are diagnosed with anxiety disorders and since most of them seem to be afraid of even doing anything about that, the actual percentage of those with these disorders, when that 3% is added on each year, is astronomical! Imagine that, being afraid to do anything to get over their fears. But it’s the same cure you’re talking about: just face it head on. It’s the only way to get anything accomplished. And the only way you’re going to be able to hold your head up and have any self-respect.
Great post as usual, Dan.
Owen
Well said, Dan; Fear and anxiety always result from lack of control in any situation. Taking action is the only way to take back control. It is the “doing” something that provides strength to overcome both anxiety and fear.
Hopefully not too many people have had to face the near death experience you had as a learning experience. Thanks for sharing it with us.