A Talk About Fear With My Son...

Hey , I had an interesting conversation with my 14 year old son yesterday during a car ride into Austin…

I said, “Hey bud, do you have any ideas or thoughts about what you might like to do when you’re done with school in a few years?”

“I love the idea of starting a cooking channel on YouTube” he said…

“I think that’s an amazing idea!”, I replied…

One of my favorite shows of all time is Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”…

Anthony and that show smashed together three of my biggest passions… Impeccable writing, food, and travel…

If you browsed through the channels I subscribe to on YouTube today, you’d find dozens of cooking shows from Gordon Ramsey, Joshua Weissman, Guga, Best Ever Food Reviews, Alexander The Guest, Nick DiGiovanni, and more…

So I asked him a question…

“What’s stopping you from starting that now?”

“It’s scary… My videos won’t be very good… My friends will see it and I don’t know what they’ll think…”

I told him that he’s right… Putting yourself out there is scary, and no one’s videos are good when they’re just getting started… Look at Mr. Beast’s first videos back in his bedroom… They were as bad as they get, but he recorded them anyway because hey knew that was the only way to learn and get better…

So I suggested an idea… “What if we just filmed a few shows just for us, and that we don’t put online?”

“That’s sounds great! Let’s do that!”, he said…

Fear is the ultimate dream killer for all humans… Children, and adults alike.

I can’t tell you how many people are paralyzed and stuck in their businesses because they’re scared of recording and posting a video on Instagram…

And I get it… Yes, you’re going to be judged and criticized, but who cares?

Those people and their comments have nothing to do with you.

Anyone who judges and criticizes you is doing so as a defense mechanism because you have the courage to do what they don’t… So they try to blow out your flame.

When that happens to me today, my first thought isn’t about me or what I created… It’s, “wow, this person must be having a really tough time right now…”

And I simply feel empathy towards them, instead of judgement towards myself…

As long as you understand what’s really happening from the very start, it provides you with a mental shield that will allow you to share you gifts with the other 99% of the world who would love to learn from you.

So what’s the solution?

Baby steps.

Taking action… Any action… Is the antidote to a stuck-state.

And as you take acton, you start to learn and acquire skills…

As you acquire skills, you gain confidence, and as you gain confidence, your fears melt away…

I’m taking our new group of Audience Factory students through the program over the next 12 weeks, and their first assignment is to simply watch the lessons… No action, no planning, no tech…

Just watch and learn because it’s something every single one of them can do.

And as they acquire the knowledge I’m sharing with them, something pretty awesome happens…

It empowers them with ideas and clarity…

That clarity starts to generate confidence, and that confident energy starts to inspire them to take action.

Actions taken over time turn into skills, and skills put into practice is what produces the results you’re after.

When I was getting my start as an entrepreneur, I spent 6 years paralyzed by fear… The fear of talking to prospects on the phone, not knowing what to say, and being rejected.

But I knew I had to overcome those fears, or give up on my dreams…

Ironically, most humans are unwilling to face a fear for ourselves, but we’re willing to do it for someone else like a boss…

So I intentionally took a job that required me to make 400 cold calls a day.

I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I picked up the phone and dialed.

By my 3rd day, the fears that held me frozen and hostage for six years were gone, and I went on to become the #1 distributer in my company over the next few years.

So what’s one small action you can take today in order to overcome a fear that’s holding you back from achieving your full potential?

If you’re not willing to face it for yourself, you can do it for me, because I believe in you. 👊💯

Sincerely,

Mike Dillard