He said, beginning to run in fear,
"A stinking, slimy rat!!!!!"
- Baron Von Frankensteen
Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein
Fear. Four letters that can really scare the crap outta ya. Worse that having to deal with a Zombie apocalypse,unless you really are afraid of zombies, that is. Zig Zigglar used to say that FEAR stood for False Evidence Appearing Real. I agree.
I used to be a professional trombonist. I can remember the very first time I had to play a solo in front of a group of people, I was scared to death. I was so scared I almost knocked over a table. The judge I was playing in front of tried to keep from laughing when that happened, but he couldn't help himself. However, on the evaluation sheet he sent back to my band director, he noted that I should persevere.
I did persevere and I got better and better at playing in front of people until I became energized by performing in front of a crowd. Like I said, I did it professionally for the better part of 15 years and play in front of an audience whenever I get the opportunity to.
Now I'm an extrovert. I love to speak in front of audiences, and look forward to doing that as much as I can. I find it hilarious that it is the number one fear that people have, as a survey recently showed. So, one day it dawned on me that the reason I don't have a fear of getting in front of people is that I have done it thousands of times.
That is the key to losing your fear. Do it a million times over and over and you'll get used to it. If there is some aspect to your business that you are afraid of (like selling face to face) I would suggest that you do it a lot.
Now, if I could just get over my fear of heights....
Happy Halloween
Mark "Elmo" Ellis
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