Fearless

What does it take to be fearless? Associates of mine have always had the impression that I fear nothing. That certainly is not true. I have never been fearless. What drives me through the fear is an internal voice, a voice which has the power to propel me to success. Equally, my internal voice can also do the opposite and keep me small. We all have an inner voice. Learning to silence your inner critic and listen to your voice of confidence will make you appear fearless.

Over the course of my teaching, training, coaching and mentoring career, there have been numerous situations where I felt fear- fear that would push me down and make me lose confidence. I’ve had to push through fear many times in my career, relying on my inner voice of confidence to get me through.

Being called fearless does not mean I was never scared. It does not mean that I’ve never failed. What it does mean is that I’ve pushed through my fear, which drove me to be more successful. When I experienced failure, I treated it as an opportunity for growth. I analyzed and redesigned my strategy and started again. Failure is not failing, it is a time to learn and become stronger.

There were times when I failed as a coach, a teacher, or even as a mother. But because I believed in myself and believed in the cause, I pushed through my fear and started again. Eventually, my fear became my strength.

Early in my career as a marketing manager for a Forbes Fortune top 100 company, I was asked to create a marketing campaign for a major client . This was a tremendous opportunity for me and for our organization. It was my first crack at creating an advertising campaign for an organization with such notoriety. Our company invested a lot of resources into developing the campaign. Two days before it was to launch, I was notified that they were no longer going to do business with us and it was effective immediately, without any notice. As the CEO delivered the news, I developed a huge pit in my stomach. I felt completely defeated. To make matters worse, the client gave their business to our biggest competitor. The disappointment for me personally was huge but it went beyond that, our company had invested a great deal on this campaign and I felt the last minute decision to yank the campaign was unethical and unprofessional. I went to our CEO and expressed my concerns. He gave me permission to speak to the owner of the company that cancelled the deal.

I called the owner of the company to ask for a meeting to discuss what had happened. Naturally, he informed me that his schedule was full. I pressed on with the intent that I was not going to take no for an answer. I explained to him that the time and money that went into developing a winning advertising campaign for his company, only to have it cancelled two days before launch, was wrong. I felt his company should honor their agreement. The owner said he would look into the matter and get back to me. Thirty minutes later he called back and apologized for the circumstances. The campaign went on.

I was able to make that call because I listened to my inner voice of confidence. I pushed through my fear. I believed in our company and calling the owner out was the right thing to do. Without that call, our company would have lost hundreds of thousands in revenue. One simple phone call without fear saved the deal.

Unproven assumptions lead nowhere and are unproductive. When I made the call, I had no idea what the outcome would be. What I did know is that I was doing the right thing and that fueled my motivation to be fearless. Although our company could live with the outcome, I wasn’t about to let this just fade away. There have been many more situations like that in my life and career; each time I pushed through the fear simply because I believed in doing the right thing.

Lavinia Capital Partners offers online and in person courses that will give you the skills and processes to push through the fear and silence the inner voice of judgement that debilitates us and keeps us small.