Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

I'm still on the theme of overcoming call reluctance. At the meeting the past two weeks, I've taught about the hidden job market. I'll do it again tomorrow when Panasonic presents a number of open positions — only one of which is posted on their website. This is not the exception, it is the rule. Most jobs are never advertised in a public media like Monster, Dice, the AJC, or the company's own website.

Folks, to be successful in search, you have to make lots of contacts — I mean lots of contacts! Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player ever, said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." He couldn't score unless he took a shot. Take your shot and see what happens.

Call reluctance keeps us from taking shots ... it keeps us from tapping into the hidden job market. It gives the human (sinful) nature within us a minor victory and that leads to more little victories and eventually to depression — and worse.

I've been in sales and sales management in some shape or form for 20 years. I can empathize with you because I have call reluctance. In fact, I don't know a top performing sales person who doesn't have call reluctance. It's not whether or not you have it, it's what you do about it! Consider the words of one of my childhood heroes, General George S. Patton: "All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on."

Here's an idea for you. Make it your goal to get rejected at least one a day. If you aren't getting rejected, you are going to the plate enough. I had this thought in mind yesterday as I was making several calls, and to my surprise, I wasn't rejected even once. I can tell you with certainty that I wasn't disappointed about not achieving my goal.

The first step is to admit that you feel fear. There is a book written in the 80's called Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. Rick Warren offers this advice in The Purpose Driven Life (p. 140): "Of course being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again. Why would anyone take such a risk? Because it is the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy."

Feel the fear and do it anyway!