Are the people who do the amazing, deliver the extraordinary or accomplish the seemingly impossible different in some fundamental way from the rest of humanity?
That's a question I often ponder, especially when I read the advice of coaches and self-helpers (the ones who have achieved great things) and successful entrepreneurs, who say, in effect, that "Anyone can do it".
The ones who really have 'done it' often seem unaware of the essential difference that marks them out as special, or at least unusual.
I'm not sure there's a word to define this difference, actually, but 'fearlessness' is the closest I can get. Fearlessness meaning 'lack of fear', rather than 'courage' or 'bravery'. If you're not afraid you have no need to be brave, whereas most people are only too aware of the dangers - real and imagined.
But what if you're not like them and you do feel afraid? What if you still want to go ahead and do the difficult thing? Then you need to be very brave, or you need to learn the trick that those danger junkies seem to have learned without trying.
Turn fear into excitement. In Susan Jeffers' immortal words: "Feel the fear and do it anyway", by feeling your fear in a new way, as an energising force, like an actor taking to the stage. Use it to fight, not for flight.
Welcome your fear as a part of your journey, an experience that's as unique to you as the rest of your journey. Because, when you own your fear, it can't own you.
Roy
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