The Question That Single-Handedly Holds People Back From Accomplishing Their Dreams
The doors are officially open for our signature program, 30-Day VA! I’m going to share more about the program later in this blog but I wanted to first start this post by saying thank you so much for being here! It means so much to me when you listen to the podcast, read my blog, share it with others on your social media, leave reviews, and all of that good stuff so seriously from the bottom of my heart thank you so so so much!
As I said, the doors are open for our 30-Day VA program where I teach you how to start your business as a VA in 30 days or less, and for today's short post, a little pep talk if you will, I am addressing one of the most common questions I get in my inbox and it is:
What if I fail?
This question – “What if I fail” single-handedly holds people back from accomplishing their dreams, and sometimes ultimately fulfilling their purpose. And honestly just thinking about this makes my stomach hurt because I think about all the dreams that just get tossed to the wayside because of this one all-consuming thought.
Dreams that were put on your heart for a reason.
Dreams that are going to impact your and your famili’s life for generations to come.
Dreams that are going to change the lives of everyone around you including the people you work with.
Dreams that will just stay dreams and “what ifs” if you don’t go for it.
People fear failure so much that they don't even give themselves a shot to do something GREAT. And if I am being honest with you, I don’t think failure is the thing that we should fear. I think failure is necessary for growth. It’s something that no matter who you talk to, every person who has seen success, has had to walk through in order to get to the other side. Failure or making mistakes is something that we can learn and grow from just to help us become stronger and more capable of achieving what it is we want to achieve.
So I really don’t think failure is the scary thing or the thing we should be afraid of – I think living an unlived life is.
And listen I get it – I have had moments where I am like eeeee, there’s a chance that this might not work out the way I want it to. Or like what if I look silly doing it or it just totally flops? Our brain likes to convince us that we can’t do it because it wants to keep us safe. Our brain literally was designed to keep us safe from fear.
But listen to me, the “fear of failure” is not the same as being chased by a bear. When you are being chased by a bear, that is a very REAL threat. Like the bear is right there and it’s coming ya know lol.
Fearing failure is anticipating a made-up scenario. It’s the “what if”, right?
So how about this – how about instead of focusing on the “what if this doesn’t work out” you think about “what if this is the thing that helps me achieve ______ (whatever that is for you)”.
What if saying yes to this and going all in is the reason I can make some extra money during naptime and we can pay off the rest of our debt and actually start saving for the future?
What if saying yes and going all in on this is the reason that I can take my kids to the park at 8 am on a Wednesday instead of sitting in traffic on the way to work?
What if saying yes and going all in on this is the outlet I have been searching for, the thing that will give me a sense of fulfillment outside motherhood?
What if?
6 years ago I was teaching in a middle school in Los Angeles. I was commuting over two hours a day, about an hour and 15 min one way, barely making enough money to cover our bills, forget about savings – and I just remember thinking like this can't be my life for the rest of my life. This isn’t it.
My husband and I were engaged at the time and I just remember dreaming about being able to be first in the pickup line for school or going to their 1st-grade field trip to the pumpkin patch with them or being able to take more than 3 personal days off of work a year and don’t even get me started on having to write pages of sub plans to prep for said days off.
Now 6 years later, I work about 20-25 hours a week, I make an income that supports my family that’s about 3 times what I was making as a teacher, and it’s all on my own terms.
This WOULDN’T have been possible if I hadn’t taken a chance on myself back in 2017 when I started my first online business, or in 2022 when I made a huge pivot and became a virtual assistant (while I was 6 months pregnant and chasing a 17-month-old toddler I might at lol).
Yeah of course I had the thought of like – yikes what if this doesn’t work out the way I want it to.
But what scared me the most was missing out on the life I get to live today because of it.
No 10 am park dates.
No snuggles after naptime.
Not being able to book a flight to see my family whenever I wanted or needed to.
No day dates with my husband on a Monday because that’s the day he has off work.
None of this would exist if I let the fear of failure hold me back from even trying.
But you always wanna know one thing that has always been a HUGE driver in my businesses over the last serval years? The thing I always come back to when the fear of failure or self-doubt or whatever starts to creep in? I’ve shared about this a few times before but it’s so real – I think about that as my boys grow up and start dreaming and going after what they want to accomplish in their life that I can tell them that they be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do and they will believe me because they watched me do it right before their eyes.
So I don't know what it is for you, and it could be totally different than what matters most to me but my hope is that today you are able to see what could be waiting for you on the other side of pushing past all the fear and doubt and whatever is holding you back and fully committing to pursuing an opportunity that could change your life forever is worth so much more than the comfortability of staying where you are now because while it feels safe, if there is another dream on your heart that you want to pursue, it’s not serving you and it’s not serving those around you.
I believe in you, you are deserving of your dreams and I know without a shadow of a doubt that you can achieve them if you are willing to go all in and not let the fear of things not working out how you imagine be the thing that stops you from ever trying in the first place because what if it works out even better?
Alright, friends thats all I have for you today. I hope this was encouraging, I hope it gave you a little kick in the pants that you needed, and I hope to see you inside our 30 Day VA program! Doors close April 14th so make sure you head to the link in the description or the show notes to get signed up! Chat with you next week!
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