My greatest fear of being wrong

I saw this meme recently that said, “To have a creative life we must give up the fear of being wrong”.

Now, I agree with this. BUT…

I think it goes much farther than a ‘creative life’.

I know I have been crippled by inaction through a fear of being wrong, getting it wrong and being found out.

That’s not the way to live an authentic life.

My biggest wins have strangely, come on the other side of doing exactly what I was most in fear of doing.

I’m not talking about sky-diving. I really don’t think I’d ever do that.

When I ran my first Wizard Arises event I was petrified I had made a mistake. I was riddled with thoughts:

You’re an idiot
You can’t deliver this
You’ll fail
Why didn’t you just play it safe and just be a support for other people
They’ll all see you know nothing
It will never work for you

It’s amazing how freeing it is to notice these thoughts with twenty twenty vision. I think most people who ever get in front of an audience have some variation of this.

Fear is something that is hard wired into us.

I was speaking with a friend recently and I asked him how he had managed to grow his business so rapidly into a million-dollar brand. I mean, I’ve had 100% growth in my business for 3 years straight – I’m doing good – but I’m not a million-dollar brand…yet 🙂

What he said intrigued and challenged me.

He said “I love the risk. I know if I’m committed, I’ll find the way, and I know you will too Chris.”

There was nothing in there about knowledge, experience, skill, the way he is seen by others or any of the minutia that was flowing through my head.

Love the risk.

Be committed and no matter what happens, you’ll find the way.

Be okay to be wrong, to get it wrong to be found out.

That’s what I got out of that and that’s what I’ve committed to introducing into my business and into my mindset.

And you know what else I realised?

My little chatter box mind will always be talking me down, trying to keep me in my little box, safe and sound.

My success will never be found without confronting my anxieties, without confronting that voice – not to defeat it, but to just let it be – without me being ok to be wrong.

How does this sit with you? Share your thoughts below.

Till next time.