Fears come in many different shapes and sizes.  There are extreme fears (or phobias), fears about your future (worry), and fears from stepping out of your comfort zone.  Fear is a natural part of life.  Success comes when you move beyond fear. It is not that you won’t feel the fear, but you will feel the fear and do it anyway.

What are you afraid of?  You may have fears in each of the categories above.  This article will focus on the fear of trying something new or doing something that might cause rejection.  This might be the fear of starting a new business, of making a sales call, or of making a speech.  This is the fear you fear when you ask someone out on a date or when you need to make a presentation in front of an unfamiliar group of people. We all carry many fears in this category.

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
- Rosa Parks

You may have heard that FEAR can be considered an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real.  It is not that the fear is false, but that the expectations that are false.  One result is that fear can cause a paralysis of procrastination.  As we are afraid of something we are procrastinate and find other things to do.  This is the wrong approach.  Instead of being paralyzed by fear we should run towards the fear.  Feel the fear of something and do it anyway.

This summer, I had the privilege of attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.  I went with an organization that works with athletes, and had the goal of networking and meeting lots of athletes.  Doing this meant overcoming significant fear. It is easy to think that successful athletes won’t want to talk to you, or that they are too busy.  You can build up a lot of reasons in your mind why you should not approach an athlete.  Of course these are generally all false expectations.  Athletes are normal people and generally are excited to meet people.  This is especially true at the Olympics where the international camaraderie is extremely high.  Approaching an athlete didn’t happen without fear.  I would feel the fear and do it anyways. Of course my fears (false expectations) never did happen, and moving past the fear was very rewarding.

“Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.”
- H. Jackson Brown

One of the first opportunities to connect with an athlete this year happened on my flight to Beijing.  After getting on the flight I noticed an athlete come on.  Normally, I can identify athletes by the team clothing and credentials, but I didn’t need any of that for this particular athlete; I recognized her immediately.  She is a multiple medal winner from previous Olympics.  Naturally the fear of approaching someone so successful was high.  The false expectations appeared very real to me. In that situation I chose to act in spite of fear.  I used the time before take off to walk up to her seat and have a conversation.  It was a great conversation where I made a valuable contact; feel the fear and do it anyways.

Another place that people experience this sort of fear is in business prospecting.  Perhaps you are looking for a new customer or client, or searching for a business partner.  There can be significant fear in making the next contact.  This is a major reason why so many people fail in the sales related businesses.  They have fear of making the next call and that fear paralyzes them into procrastinating.

As mentioned earlier one of the main reasons that we face fear in our lives is because we all live in a comfort zone.  Your comfort zone includes those activities and events that you are comfortable with. It includes the friends you hang out with, the types of activities you do at your job and how you spend your free time. You become comfortable with what you do now.

“Every time we choose safety, we reinforce fear.”
- Cheri Huber

Unfortunately, if you stay in your comfort zone you will not grow and achieve anything more than you have now. Growth requires moving out of your comfort zone. The good news is when you move past fear and move out of your comfort zone your comfort zone will expand. Think about your first day on a new job.  You are likely nervous because you are not sure you can do everything required of you.  Perhaps you felt like the new job was above you.  Now, over time you likely became comfortable with the activities on your job.  Your comfort zone has expanded by doing the things you feared.

Chances are the things that you fear because they are outside of your comfort zone are the very things that you need to do to become more successful. Making the sales call to that potential customer that you are afraid of may be the very call that will grow your business.  Asking the girl you like out on a date might help you start a wonderful relationship.  Run towards the fear and you will move into a higher level of success.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Those people who most quickly move towards their fears and move past them will be the first to succeed.  What are you afraid of?  What are the false expectations in your life?  Identify them so that you know what to run towards.  Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the ability to move towards the fear instead of away from it.

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Hi everyone,

On Sunday’s I share links from around the web.  These will be articles that I found valuable and hopefully will be useful to you as well.

1. Alex Shalman has a guest article on John Chow called “How Planning Can Make Your Broke” where he shares his story of writing an publishing an e-book in 3 days!

2. Gaping Void shares a wonderful post on How to be Creative. This is a long post, but really worth reading.

3. Presentation Zen believes that Obama’s Victory Speech will become a classic historical speech.

4. The Colorado Springs Gazette does a Case Study on the 4 Hour Work Week.

5. Seth Godin shares about The Sad Lie of Mediocrity.

Enjoy the links!  Take some time today and set some goals for the upcoming week, and let’s get to it!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

Recently, I shared with everyone my Top 10 Books.  At the time I mentioned that I was currently reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.  In the comments, Dave Jones, asked me to share my thoughts on the book when I finished.  This post will share my reflections on the book, as well as a few take home points that will help you become more productive.  Please be sure to share your experience with Getting Things Done (GTD) in the comments section below.

Reading and applying tips from GTD will make you more productive. The subtitle of the book is “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”.  There are two claims in this: 1) You will be stress-free in your work, and 2) You will be more productive.   Obviously, both of these are very appealing thoughts.

The idea that you will be stress-free comes from Allen’s belief that if you have everything on your “to do” list written down and in a trusty system your subconscious mind will stop worrying about the task, stop reminding you about it, and allow your trusted system to go to work. While, I do see the system as a way to reduce stress, and help you relax more, the idea of being completely “stress free”, may be pushing it a bit.

The real strength of the book for me is in providing ways to increase productivity.  The book is designed specifically for knowledge workers; people whose primary work is to use, process, and share knowledge.  Chances are that if you primarily work in an office, you are a knowledge worker, and this book will help you be more productive.  For me, this would necessarily include all three of my major professional areas: being a professor, writing this blog, and building my home business.

The System

GTD is designed to be an entire system, not just a few activities. The system will allow you to take any activity, task, email/voice mail, or project and move it more quickly towards completion.  The system involves five major processes that every activity needs to go through.

1. Collect – writing down and recording everything you need to do.
2. Process – going through everything you have collected and determining whether it can be done quickly, or as part of a project, and then deciding to either do it, delegate it, or defer it until a later time.
3. Organize – taking the activities that you need to do and putting them into actionable lists and set projects.
4. Review – going through all of your lists and projects to ensure that you are doing what you need to do.
5. Do – taking action and getting things done.

Allen’s system comes with a thorough flow chart, and sub systems for each of these five processes to help you move through it efficiently and quickly while not dropping any of the activities you need to do.   The entire system will take significant time to set up and get used to.  You really need to set aside two full days after you have read the book to setup the system in your life.

Beyond the System

The good news is that you don’t need to use the entire system to get a lot out of this book. At this point, I have been implementing a number of elements of the system rather than the system as a whole.  This may change later, but at this point, there are some elements that can fit my life and that I know will make substantial differences in my productivity. When you are reading the book, be open to implementing the entire system, but also realize that you can start with one activity at a time and build up towards the systems he suggests.

Value for Me

Initially, the tips I learned while reading GTD made a bigger impact in my role as a professor than in my blog or business.  As I have gotten better at implementing these ideas in that setting they have now started to naturally carry over into my blog and business as well as other areas of life.  The following are five tips that I have already implemented and that have started to make improvements.  I will list and briefly explain the tips here.  Many of them will become full length articles over the next month or two.

1. Two Minute Policy – Allen suggests that whenever you are processing tasks to ask yourself if what you are looking at can be done in two minutes.  If it can, then do it.  This helps to prevent procrastinating on the small things.

2. Weekly Review – Each week you need to have a time of weekly review where you go through your lists and projects and make sure there are not any outgoing activities that you need to get done, and that all of your responsibilities are written down and set up in the correct part of your system.  This review goes great along with my weekly planning process.

3. Write Everything Down – Every activity that you agree to do needs to be written down.  Simply write it down on a piece of paper and put it in your in box for processing.  By writing everything down you won’t be worried about missing something that you have committed to doing.

4. Folders for Each Project – For each project you are involved in you need to have a folder.  That folder will allow you to place anything that you need for accomplishing that project.  Big projects will have several folders each representing a different aspect of that project.

5. Asking “What’s the Next Action?” – By asking this question of every project you have, you will always know what you need to do next.  Often this next step will be smaller than you had pictured, and may even fit within the two minute rule.  Also, ask this question at the end of every meeting you have, ensuring that all parties go away ready to make progress.

Reading Getting Things Done

“Getting Things Done” is certainly worth reading.  When you pick up the book, remember that it is not a quick read.  Much of the steps that Allen describes require that you take time to think through how that would fit in your life.  Make sure that you read with a highlighter in hand so that you can mark up key areas and return to them later.  Also, have a pad of paper and pen with you so you can write down ideas as you come to them.

One of the reasons it took me longer to read this book than others is that whenever I sat down to read I became inspired to go and get things done! I would sit down with the intention of reading for 30 minutes and would be up accomplishing something after about 10 minutes of reading.  Of course this is a very good thing!  The act of simply reading the book helped me to accomplish more.

This is also a book that you cannot just read once.  I will be returning to this book again in a few months to help me readjust the tools that I have put in place and reconsider ways that I should implement the system as a whole.  I know it will be something that will provide continued value for years to come.

Enjoy the book!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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As a follow up to my recent post sharing my Favorite TED talks, I wanted to share another great lecture I came across.

Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Work Week, one of my Top 10 Book Choices, spoke at The Do Lectures (a conference designed to inspire people to DO exceptional things).

Here is the video, followed by my 10 observations from the lecture.

1. When perceived difficulty of a task is high; fewer people will try it, thus making it easier -  This is why Tim challenges people to set big goals that everyone else things is impossible.  If everyone thinks things are impossible or unattainable, that very perception will make the task easier.

2. Set big, world changing, goals – Because of point #1, you should set big goals that will allow you in some way to change the world.

3. Design clear actionable steps – Whatever goals you have, you need to create clear actionable steps around that goal.  This fits very closely with the Getting Things Done plan of defining the next action step for each project you are working on.  Break down your world changing goals into clear actionable steps.

4. Don’t believe people who say you can’t do it – If you are doing something that is perceived to be impossible, you will have lots of people who will say it is impossible.  Realize that they are wrong, and don’t listen to them.  Instead, surround your people who have already done it, or who will encourage you.

5. Only listen to people who have done it, who have accomplished the impossible – The people you should listen to are the ones who have already accomplished something impossible.  If someone has done the impossible thing that you want to do, then that person is first.  If no one has done the thing you want to do, look for people who have done similar impossible things.  Tim calls these people the “Dark Horse Role Models”.

6. You need to be able to recruit people to help you – If you set a big enough goal you will need to be able to recruit people to get your message out.  Interestingly, small goals will draw very few supporters, but big world-changing goals will be easier to recruit people to help you.

7. Think exponentially and not linearly – As you work towards achieving your big goals think about exponentially.  Think about big gains, not small gains.  Think about big growth that people can get excited about joining in on.

8. Convert lack of resources into strengths –  Tim suggests “writing down the positives about whatever you view as your negatives.”  Once you start to look at those areas as strengths you can capitalize on those areas.  Whatever your weaknesses are, there are strengths corresponding strengths in the marketplace.

9. Make your message really clear – This is an important principle in any type of communication. Tim says, “people can hate you or dislike you but they shouldn’t be confused by your message.”  The crux of a clear message is giving the audience a clear actionable next step.

10. Create fun competition – One way to encourage activity amongst the people you have recruited is to create fun competitions.  People like competition, and some people – particularly people who already get things done – will do far more simply because of a competition.

Here is Tim’s Post about the lecture.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Recently I wrote an article entitled 6 Ways to Grow Daily, and the subsequent follow up, how to create a reading plan and where I shared my Top 10 Book Choices.  Today’s article follows in that series by providing another way for your professional development – TED!

Are you familiar with TED?  TED is an annual conference held for top leaders in the fields of Technology, Education, and Design.  The conference is very exclusive, with a detailed application process, and an expectation that you will only be accepted if you are top leader in your particular field.  At the conference this exclusive group of people is exposed to 50 top notch lectures from other leaders, authors, and educators.  There are no breakout sessions, instead everyone gets every lecture all together. The goal is to literally change the world with this group of leaders as a starting point.

Naturally, because the event is so exclusive, the likelihood of any one person being able to attend the event for personal development reasons is slim-to-none.  Fortunately, TED talks are also made available online. The videos have become a top source of online personal growth and learning about a wide variety of subjects.  With numerous videos from several years of recent TED conferences means that you have hours and hours of videos right at your disposal.

So how do you narrow them down?  Obviously you will need to search their database for areas of personal interest, but to help you out here is my top 5 TED talks list:

1. Malcom Gladwell – author of The Tipping Point & Blink

Talk: What We Can Learn From Spaghetti Sauce

2. Tony Robbins – author of Unlimited Power & Awaken The Giant Within

Talk: Why We Do What We Do

3. Seth Godin – author of Purple Cow & The Dip

Talk: Sliced Bread

4. Billy Graham – evangelist (See: Autobiography: Just As I am)

Talk: Technology, Faith, and Suffering

5. Richard St. John – author of 8 to be Great

Talk: Secrets of Success in 8 Words & 3 Minutes

This list will give you a great start.  Do you have a favorite TED talk?  Which is your favorite out of these five?  What other talks would you recommend?  Share the details below and we continue to help others grow.

To your success,
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Each Sunday I’ll share some of the favorite articles that I have come across in the last week.

1. On Wise Bread, you can read about how Young Investors Should Stay The Course.

2. Get Rich Slowly shares about Warren Buffutt’s Ten Secrets to Wealth and Life.

3. The Christian Personal Finance blog shares Ideas For Giving.

4. Dumb Little Man asks Do You Keep an Achievement Book?

5. Yaro Starak @ Entrepreneurs-Journey asks Is Internet Marketing Just Another Fools Gold Rush?

And finally, from the archives.  The most read article from this blog: Six Steps to Plan Your Week for Success.

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

Photo by Goodrob13

There are very few things in life that have the power to encourage, inspire, and provide peace of mind and bring happiness all at the same time.  Being thankful is one of those things.

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. Being a Canadian who is married to an American, I get the joy of two separate Thanksgiving days! On the surface level this brings us two occasions to feast on Turkey, and two times to gather with friends and family.  On a deeper level it provides two distinct times to reflect on everything we have and to be thankful for it.

Of course, no one needs to wait until Thanksgiving Day to be thankful.  Instead, we should each develop the habit of thanksgiving so that we are thankful on a daily basis.  There are so many benefits to being thankful that we simply can’t wait for special occasions to be thankful.  This is true (and perhaps easier) when things are good in life, but it is also true (and perhaps even more important) in tough times.  Whatever your situation, there are many befits to cultivating thankfulness in your life.

Benefits of Thankfulness

1. Thankfulness focuses your minds on the good things of life

When you are taking the time to give thanks you are naturally focusing on the good things in life.  It is the good things of life that you reflect on with joy as you list or receipt the things in life you are thankful for.  The bad things will drift away as you continue to reflect on all that is good in life.

2. Thankfulness helps you think of the big picture

Generally, what you express thanksgiving for are the big things in life.  You give thanks for things like your health and your family.  You don’t normally give thanks for little things that we fill our lives.  Certainly you should be thankful for these things also, but the process of thanksgiving forces you to think about the big picture things.  Chances are that you may have many little things in life that are a struggle, and yet the big things in life are likely doing ok.

3. Thankfulness reduces stress

Thinking of the things that you are thankful for takes our minds of the things you are not happy with, thus helping to reduce your stress.  The areas of your lives that you are struggling with are the ones that are creating stress.  Take your mind of those things and focus on all of the things that are right about your life.  These are the things to give thanks for.

4. Thankfulness provides hope for the future

By reflecting on everything you have to be thankful for you are setting up yourselves to have more hope for the future.  You are able to think about all of the ways that things have gone right in the past, all of the good things you have been able to achieve or accomplish, and how God has consistently provided for you through good times and bad.  This sort of reflection can remind you what it is like to achieve your goals and to feel success in life.  Remembering these things tells your mind that you can once again achieve all of these things, and that once again you can reach your goals.

5. Thankfulness reminds you to be happy now

All too often people today are so caught up in work and in trying to achieve some goal, that they start thinking that we need to complete that goal in order to be happy.  The tendency is to view happiness as a step away, something you are working for.  In reality you have lots to be happy for right now.  Reflecting with thanksgiving on those things helps you to recognize that you have every reason to be happy right now.  Happiness isn’t something you need to pursue endlessly to achieve instead it is something you can have right now.

6. Thankfulness puts you in our proper place

Being thankful reminds us about how good we really have things, and how we really have more than we deserve. By being thankful, we are recognizing there is someone to be thankful to.  Whether you want to consider this as Mother Nature or God, or whomever, you are being thankful to someone outside of yourself for the good things in life.  For me, thankfulness points me to God as my provider for all things.

Tips to Developing the Habit of Thankfulness

There are many things you can do to express your thankfulness.  Taking the time to do these can help you make thankfulness a habit and bring you all the benefits I shared above.

* Write down what you are thankful for. – This can be a simple process, of taking some time to make a list of things that you are thankful for.  The list can either be in point form, or in more of a full-on journal entry.

* Tell others about the things you are thankful for. – On tradition common on Thanksgiving Day is for a family to go around the table and have each member share something they are thankful for.  Verbal testimony about things you are thankful for are powerful, because not only does it solidify the fact that you are thankful, but it serves as a reminder and encouragement to everyone who hears you.

* Meditate on the subject of thankfulness. – This involves quieting your mind and focusing on thoughts of thanksgiving.  Think about all of the different things in life that are good and that you are thankful for.  Allow your mind to wander from the very mundane things that you have to be thankful for, all the way to the extraordinary.

* Do something in recognition of what you have to be thankful for. -  Athletes and musicians do this all the time when they dedicate a performance to someone.  Authors do it when they dedicate their book to a loved one.  You can choose something you are thankful for and respond by doing something in honor or in dedication to that thing or person.  You don’t have to write a book, or sing a song.  You can do very basic, even mundane activities, as acts of thankfulness.  You can cut your lawn as an act of thankfulness to the fact that you own a home and have the money to pay your mortgage.  You can do your laundry in thankfulness for the fact that you have plenty clothes to wear.  And like the athlete, the artist, or the author, you can also dedicate big projects to others as a work of thankfulness.

Clearly we all have many things to be thankful for.  What about you?  What are you thankful for today? Use the comments on this blog as an opportunity for you to express your thankfulness in front of others.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Each Sunday, I share some of my favorite articles from the past week. This week’s list has some excellent ones.

Seth Godin has a great little post about being Irrationally Committed to your goal.

In one of my favorite posts ever, Zen Habits shares why Success Isn’t a Competition. This article comes with a powerful offer of support for other bloggers.

Pick The Brain has a fantastic creative article using characters from The Matrix to teach about How to Survive in Troubled Times.

The financial blog No Credit Needed shares great ideas about Savings Account Allocation.

Finally, the blog LifeDev shares some thoughts on Generating Ideas and Inspiration from Social Media

Speaking of social media, you can find me on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?src=fftb#/profile.php?id=826085649&ref=profile

From the Archives:

How a fishing contest showed me lessons about how to act When Others are Absent

How a trip to the musical Wicked showed a powerful example of customer service (both good and bad)

Have a great week!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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