Episode 20: Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway with Coach BZ

Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast. With your host, Coach Beezy. If you need to develop into a better leader, this podcast is for you. If you want to achieve a greater level of success, this podcast is for you. His mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, said it best: everything rises and falls on leadership. We hope to inspire you today and provide you with an insight that has the potential to positively impact the trajectory of your life. Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast.

Hello everyone, this is Coach BZ coming to you from Silicon Valley. Today I'm going to be talking briefly about a subject that is very important to me. Before we get started, for those of you who are watching me live, if you please type in the comments where you are connecting from, like the city, the state, the country, I would appreciate that. And then if you have any question about the subject I will be talking about today, which is about fear and execution, feeling the fear and doing it anyway, please type your question here. And then if you have any question about anything at all, you can type them in the comment section as well, and I'm going to try to get to them by the end of this brief call. So I am talking about fear. I believe fear is probably The number one reason why dreams die, right? Somebody said, I think it was Les Brown, that when you go to the cemetery, it's one of the saddest places on earth because a lot of dreams in the cemetery died without being achieved, right? People had great dreams, high hopes, they wanted to really make their life count, but for one reason or another, they died being pregnant with a dream but not bringing that dream to full fruition, without seeing the result of their dream. So that is very, very sad, and I don't want that to happen to you. I believe if we are here on Earth today, in this time, in this season, it's for a reason. You have something to do, right? You have a purpose, and I would like to help you find out what your purpose is and then do whatever you need to do in order to achieve that goal in your life, right? So, and again, one of the primary reasons why people don't achieve what they set out to achieve in life is primarily because they are afraid. Fear, right? Zig Ziglar called fear F-E-A-R, right? False Evidence Appearing Real. It's just in your head, it's not really going to happen, but it pretty much paralyzes a lot of people. One of my mentors talks about paralysis by analysis. You start to analyze about, okay, this is the big dream I have, this is what I want to accomplish, how in the world am I going to be able to do it? And then by thinking so much about it, you paralyze your own thinking and you don't get to do anything, right? Fear pretty much, it scares you and it paralyzes you. Now, I've been in the military now for about 17 years and there are a lot of brave young men and women in the military. Actually, one of our core values in the Navy, right, is honor, courage, and commitment. Courage, the— our second most important core value. And courage, or being brave, is not the absence of fear, but it's actually taking action even when you feel the fear. So you feel the fear, but you do the action anyway. That is how successful people become successful. They are just like everybody else, they feel the fear, they get scared, but then they take action in spite of their fear. So that's what I would like to encourage you to do. Feel the fear but do it anyway. How many times have you said, "I am going to lose weight"? How many times have you said, "I'm gonna start my own business"? How many times have you said, "Well, I am going to go ahead and do this thing, I really feel passionate about it," but then you get up, you end up not doing anything at all? More than likely, 9 times out of 10, is because you are afraid. Afraid to succeed, afraid of what everybody else is going to think about you, afraid of the opinion of other people. And sometimes I think people are afraid not because they are going to fail, but they are afraid because if they succeed, they will not be able to handle the success. They don't believe that they are worthy of success, that they can do the deed that is going to allow them to achieve the success they are seeking. So hopefully today, for just a few minutes, I'm going to be talking to you and helping you really manage that fear. I think it's Tony Robbins who once told me, when we talked about fear, you don't get rid of it, right? It's almost like a dance. You dance with fear, and as you are dancing with fear, you can get fear to actually go a specific direction, which is the direction where you want to go, because you are dancing. But you are not getting rid of the fear completely. Again, successful people, they do feel the fear, but they do the action that they need to do in order to get successful results, so they do it anyway. Let me, there are a couple of, one poem and a portion of a speech I read a lot. It really helps me out, so I am going to ask The first one is called "Men in the Arena." President Theodore Roosevelt was the one who gave that speech. It was in Paris, if I am not mistaken. It is one speech I like to read a whole lot, and I have a link in the description of this podcast that will take you to an article I had written a while back And I kind of mention this poem, things that inspire me, and I'm going to have the— a sergeant, Master Sergeant of the Air Force about 2 years ago, who's going to kind of read that portion of that speech, "Men in the Arena," for us.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, Who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

The Man in the Arena. This is really part of the reason why I really like this portion of our 26th president's speech, right? The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Yes, that man is afraid, but he makes the decision to get in the arena where the action is taking place. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Yes, the man might even be in pain, but he keeps on striving violently, courageously, sometimes even fall short and make mistakes, but will get back up again and again and again. So feeling the fear but doing it anyway, that is what makes anybody successful. It's not of the faint of heart. Sometimes you are going to try something, start a new business, learn a new skill, or whatever it might be, and you might not be successful at first. But even while you are afraid, having the courage to do what needs to be done. A man with great devotion who spends himself in a worthy cause. I have to do something and it is worthy, it is bigger than myself and I will do it even though I am afraid, I'm going to do it anyway. At best knows the end, he says, the triumph of high achievement, and at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. That is very, very important: getting rid of the fear of failure, right? Going ahead and doing what needs to be done, doing whatever you are passionate about, even though you might fail. Because here's the thing, right? There might be a chance for you to fail, but well, what if you succeed, right? People may say, okay, I'm not even going to take a shot because I might completely fail. Well, what if you take the shot and you succeed? And you win? What if, right? Think about that. What if you do what you are passionate about doing, what you feel like you were called to do, and you become a great success? What about it? Why are you always thinking about the negative, like it is going to fail? What if it fails? But what if it succeeds? You need to ask yourself that question too. And many times, I really believe that it's better for anyone to try doing something and fail than not doing it at all and living with the fear, the terror within. It's much better to try and fail than not having tried at all. I believe many people, when they are on their deathbed and they think about everything they've done throughout their lifetime, what their legacy is going to be, I think so many of us really, really regret not having done what we knew we could have done and should have done, and just pretty much settling for a life that is less than what they were called to. And that's not really what I intend to do with my life. I want to do everything I was called to do with all of the strength I've got. I at least want to try, right? And to me, that is so much better than being afraid and not doing anything, not taking any action at all. Now I'm gonna have Les Brown, who's another one of my mentors, to help me out with a poem. The name of the poem is Success, and I believe it was actually written by Burton Bradley. Success. Les Brown is going to take us through it now.

I want to dedicate this to you that I love very much. I want to thank Dexter and all of you. It's something that I'm known by. It's on our tapes called Choosing Your Future, and it says simply this: that if you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace, and your sleep for it, if all that you dream and scheme is about it, and life seems useless and worthless without it, and if you gladly sweat for it and fret for it and plan for and lose all your terror of the opposition for it. And if you simply go after that thing that you want with all of your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern pertinacity, if neither cold poverty, famish or gout, sickness or pain of body and brain can keep you away from the thing that you want, if dogged and grim you besiege and beset it, with the help of God you'll get it. This is Mrs. Mamie Brown's baby boy, Leslie Calvin Brown, saying it's been a plum pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege. Thank you.

All right, so I really love what Les Brown said, right? In life, I really believe that if you really, really, really want something, absolutely nothing will be able to stop you, no obstacle. And what's going to happen is, yes, there might be obstacles in front of you, and you might even be afraid, but because you are really, really, really, really, uh, you have bought in, right, into this idea, into this dream, and you're going to do everything you have to do in order to get it, you're going to go through the obstacle, under it, above it, or around it. You're going to find a way. There is a way, and you will find the way.. Like I've heard of a story about a woman who had a little child and the child was playing by the house and kind of went on to play down the street and there was a very fast car that was driving toward her child and she pretty much got like superhuman ability where she was able to grab her kid before the car was able to eat her little boy. And I feel like when we have to, We always, always, always find a way. I really believe one of the secrets of success is to be resourceful. I may not have resources, I may not have the money, I may not have everything I need, the people and all of those things in place, but if I really want something, I will find a way to get it. I think it's really a mindset, right? So if you want to be successful, yes, you are going to feel fear, but you'd better take action even though you feel the fear. Feel the fear and do it anyway. I really, really like this poem, Success: If you want a thing bad enough to go and fight for it, work day and night for it, where you are completely committed to an idea, to a goal, I am going to make it. No matter what. You set up your mind, you make up your mind, I am going to make it. Things might be difficult, no, come hell or hot water, it doesn't matter. This is for me and I'm going to do it no matter what. If you desire of it and you never tire of it, dream about it day and night, you sweat for it, simply go after that thing that you want. With all your capacity, with everything you've got. Yes, I am afraid, but I'm going to do it anyway with faith, hope, confidence, tenacity. And I'm going to be talking about faith later on. I have faith in God, and I know not everybody believes in God, which is fine, but having faith in yourself and having faith in your fellow man, knowing that things are going to work out some way, somehow, there's going to be a way, and you are going to be successful, and you are going to you're gonna end up being a winner and you're going to achieve whatever it is that you have set your mind to. Not take no for an answer. If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it, you will get it. One example is when I tried to join the US military. I wasn't born in the US, so after 9/11, I married to a US citizen and I had a baby on the way, so she would be a US citizen as well. I wasn't. And after 9/11, I really wanted to do something about what was happening in my new country, right? So I went there, I talked to the Marines, to the Navy folks, the sailors, I talked to the Coast Guard, to everybody, to the Air Force, and all of them said no, can't join, you have a crazy accent, or I imagine you weren't born here, are you a citizen? I said no. Do you have a green card? I said no. Okay, they pretty much asked me to go pack sand. Okay, that is fine, but I still want to do something for my new country. So as soon, I think It took about 3 years. 9/11 was in 2001, so in 2004 I became a permanent resident of the US. I came back like I told them I'll be back, and here I am. Now I have this green card you told me about. What do I need to do in order to become a member of the US Armed Forces? So I got enlisted then as an E-1, right, a seaman recruit. Then I went to boot camp at Great Lakes. Some people call it Great Mistakes. But anyway, after boot camp, I became an E-3, a seaman. And then I remember when I went to see the recruiter back again in 2004, again they told me, okay, you are not a U.S. citizen, so even though you have a degree, you cannot become an officer, but you can become enlisted. I'm like, okay, that is good enough. And I think it took about a year and a half or so, in 2006 I became a U.S. citizen and I went to see the recruiter once again. Hey, I told you I'll be back. Now I am a U.S. citizen, how do I become an officer? And And like they say, the rest is history. Today I am a commander in the most powerful navy the world has ever seen. What I'm saying is, if you really want something and you want it bad enough, there is absolutely nothing, nothing that can stand in your way. Nothing. Two more examples in my life. I remember something that was extremely scary for me. I was only 17 years old. I left my home country in Africa to go to the biggest country in the world, the United States of America, where I knew absolutely no one and I didn't have any money. No connection, absolutely nothing, and I have this big dream: I'm going to go to America and get an education and be successful. That was very, very, very scary, forgetting everything I knew or getting outside of my comfort zone, and that's actually how you grow in life, right? You have to get outside of your comfort zone because being comfortable is going to pretty much only allow you to live a life that is a life of mediocrity. You're going to be mediocre by being comfortable. You're not going to evolve, you're going to stay there, it's going to be the status quo. If you want to go higher, you have to get out of your comfort zone, and when you do that, you are going to be afraid, it's going to be scary because you're going to be in a place where you are not used to being. Mommy wasn't there anymore, Daddy wasn't there anymore, I didn't have their money and their resources any longer, I was in a place I didn't know anybody, I couldn't hardly speak the language. Yes, I was afraid,. But that was my dream, and I had to take action anyway. I had to go to school, I had to find a way to pay for the school, and I had to find a way to graduate. And after that, get a job, and like they say again, the rest is history. But you have to have that confidence, that faith. You have to have the courage, not the absence of fear, but taking action in spite of the fear. Another time in my life where I was quite scared is when A couple of crazy people in California made me an offer that more than doubled my salary to leave the University of Alabama where I have been for more than what, 15 years at the time, only 5 years away from retirement. And those people are like, no, we need you in California, come to Monterey. And taking my family and forgetting everybody I knew in Alabama and driving more than what, 3,000 miles to Monterey, California. To start all over again, that was very, very scary. But there was a huge potential, right? There was something that I could do, that I really, really wanted to do, I was very, very passionate about. Yes, I could fail, but then again, I could succeed, right? So I just made the decision, I am going to be courageous and I'm going to do what I feel like I was called to do, what I desire to do, what I was I came to California and now I am an executive in Silicon Valley. Again, the rest is history. But I was very, very fearful at that time, but I took action and I did the right thing in order to get what I was after. So I am really encouraging you today, no matter what is in front of you, think about why you want to do whatever it is you're trying to do and what the goal is, what you want to achieve. And pass through your fear and do it anyway. Take action every single day, do something that is going to get you closer to where you really, really want to be. All right, I hope this has been very inspiring for you. I'm gonna check the comments now to see if anybody has any question about what I've been talking about or anything. Okay, I don't see anything in the comments, so I'm gonna leave you with this: you need to have faith in yourself, faith in your dreams, because if you don't, nobody else will have faith in your dream. You can do what only you can do, and if you care about something deep enough, I believe you will find a way. So feel the fear, But do it, do it anyway. This is Coach BZ. Until next time.

Bye. Thank you for listening to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our channels and come back for more wisdom nuggets on how you may develop into a better leader and achieve greater levels of success. Leadership is the most critical skill The world will always need leaders to lead others, deploy the next disruptive technology, or execute a business strategy. You may as well decide on counting yourself among the 21st century leaders. See you right here next time on the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach BZ.