Week 5: Take the Leap and Face Your Fears

Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

Going with Edison logic, let’s talk a bit about fear. 

Enter the resistance… that scoundrel of a plague that stops creators from creating, stops writers from writing, stops changemakers from changing, and stops student entrepreneurs from launching.

What is resistance?

- Self doubt

- overthinking

- not knowing where to start

- questioning your purpose

- fear

- feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities 

- time 

The resistance is the voice inside that says, “Well, that will never work” or “That’s just stupid,” or it’s the friend who literally says that to you.

Resistance is the fear of failure, of falling on your face, of being told no, of feeling stupid.

When I was at Stanford’s design school where I learned the design thinking method, they had us jump on a little trampoline when we were thinking of ideas. This helped us think more like a little kid and shut the resistance down because well, when you’re jumping on a trampoline, you look ridiculous already so why not spout out any ideas that come to your head?

To help you all get over fear and push through to create something extraordinary, I’d like to introduce the #20time text:  Start Something That Matters. 

For a few weeks, I will ask that in your blog post you answer a few questions which are based off this book. The book is written by TOMS Shoes founder, Blake Mycoskie, and it’s one of the best resources for teens to create entrepreneurial projects. 

Today, take a look at chapter 3, called “Face Your Fears” (pg 45), read through it, and then answer these questions in your blog post:

1. When has fear prevented you from achieving a goal in school or in your personal life? In what form did this fear come up? How did you react to it?

2. What’s the worst mistake that you’ve ever made? What was the end result? Were the consequences as bad as you thought they might be?

3. If you had no fear at all, how would you live your life differently? Would you dedicate yourself to a favorite passion? Finally ask out that special someone on a date?

4. What are some strategies for dealing with fear while you are experiencing it? In what way is fear a good thing?

One last thing: Consider what Hamlet once said, “Conscience makes cowards of us all.” Conscience, Hamlet argues, prevents action and I’d have to agree with him on that.

Take The Leap