Wantrepreneurs are all talk and no action. Fear is usually the culprit.
This is a shout out to all the wantrepreneurs:
What the heck is holding you back?
In case you don’t know what a wantrepreneur is, here’s the definition.
A couple months ago I was coaching a guy who is a high I and S personality style, and is a non-stop idea generator. I mean this guy was even pulling content and product ideas out of my head.
It was a pretty fun coaching session.
Towards the end of the session I asked him, “Dude, what’s holding you back? I mean, why haven’t you followed through with any of these ideas?” He took a few seconds to think about the question and replied, “Truthfully, I’m afraid of failing”.
This demanded a little “coaching call overtime”.
We spent the next hour diving into his fear of failure and how best to overcome it. It was awesomeness! I could see the difference in his countenance almost immediately.
As you’ve heard me say – when you freak you freeze! Fear was freezing him from taking action.
It was zapping his creativity and keeping him in a kind of limbo state.
On a recent follow up meeting I could tell I had created a monster. This guy had turned into a beast of action.
His typical scenario in the past would be to churn out idea after idea, but then fizzle out and lose momentum.
Now he has crazy focus and knew what he wanted. He has goals!
It was cool to see the transformation.
So…how does this apply to you?
What’s holding you back? (Really, I’m curious. Chances are your excuses look a lot like this guy’s.)
Are you afraid to fail?
Why?
“I may not make it.”
“I will lose respect.”
“I will be a failure.”
What do the voices in your head start shouting when you try to take action?
Fear will say, “Worry about what others will think of you”.
Fear will say, “You are not good enough”.
Fear will say, “You are a failure”.
Fear will say, “You don’t deserve to win”.
Fear will say, “You will fail, and you will be ashamed for trying”.
Fear keeps you wondering what other people are going to think about you, instead of what you have to offer that will change lives.
If you’re focused on what other people think…you’re worrying about the wrong person.
This week spend a little time getting past the why.
Thanks so much for this. Seems like the excuse machine works with the press of the button, but the work machine has to be hand-cranked. – mike
I recently read “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg. In the book she talks about What would you do if you weren’t afraid? I love this post as it reminds me of the fear we all have but in reality fear is completely mental and can be overcome! Thank you Chris for inspiring and influencing others to get out their comfort zone and make a difference in this word!
A wise friend recently said, “What others think about me is none of my business”.
There’s a lot of truth in that!
In full support of this! I’ve been battling fear for quite some time, making some great progress in the war since March of this year.
I write a bit about fear on my site, as I believe that videogames can teach us a lot about overcoming fear. Great post Chris.
Vulnerability in what you ship and the fear of success.
I’ve said it before but will again…
Entrepreneurship is the LEAST risky thing I’ve ever done.
I have multiple streams of income versus depending on one. I am not dependent on one income from a guy who might embezzle half a million bucks from the company and lay off half the staff.
When you work for someone and fail, if they are a jerk, they fire you. If you fail in your own business, you just try again.
Risk is a “steady” job. Not your own business.
For me its not so much what people will think or even failure so much as the fear of not being able to provide for my family… paying the bills. I am willing to bust it, and work hard and put in the hours but I want to give enough time to the needs of my wife and small kids too. I’m already executing portions of the dream on the side (freelance) but it hasn’t been enough to make the leap… yet. Thanks for the encouragement to keep it it Chris!
I am definitely a wantrepreneur and I have put a lot of time into figuring out what my issue is, exactly. Over the last 5 years or so I have been soaking in many books, hundreds of hours of podcasts and I struggle finding a business that I could be passionate about. I heard Michael Hyatt say that when you lose your ‘why,’ you lose your way. I’ve definitely lost both. I used to want to be in vocational ministry but for a variety of reasons (including fear and seeing friends struggle to provide for their families in those roles) I never fully pursued it. That career path was something that defined my whole existence so giving up on that in the last couple of years has left me wondering who I even am. I absolutely love the idea of entrepreneurship as well but I think losing my bearings has made the path forward really murky.