One Letter Can Change Fear Into Power
A good friend, Richard Vass, shared his thoughts with me:
“Perplexing on the past produces depressive pain, and fretting on the future fuels fear. Only the present provides peace and power.”
As I coach Entrepreneurs, one of the things that come up a lot is fear. It shows up in the form of self-doubt and Imposter Syndrome. It manifests in worries about employees. Fear rears its ugly head when meeting with investors. There are a lot of worries that come up in the natural course of starting a business. In EVERY case, fear stymies growth. Fear can sometimes even be crippling. Before reading the rest of this article, take a moment and ask yourself, “What is my biggest fear?”
What if I told you one letter could turn that fear into power? It’s true! There is only one letter separating you from transforming fear into power. The letter is “S” and here is why…
Evaluate these two phrases
What If…
What Is…
“What if”
- can lead to unjust(sometimes irrational) anxiety.
- can fuel fear.
- creates stories and distortions.
- can start a downward spiral.
“What is,” on the other hand,
- leads to being present in the moment.
- creates ownership of the problem.
- lives in truth and dispels distortion.
- creates ownership and responsibility.
There is only a one-letter difference, and yet the road each sentence steers a person down is the polar opposite of the other. By evaluating “What is” in the current moment vs. “What if” bad things happen in the future, the holder of these thoughts changes fear, uncertainty, and doubt into power.
Evaluate how you feel when you read these “What if” statements:
“What if… I mess up this presentation?”
“What if… I launch this product, and nobody buys it?”
“What if… I go bankrupt?”
“What if… I train my employees, and they leave or try to compete?
“What if… my team doesn’t like my leadership style?”
“What if… people find out I really don’t know how to start a business?”
“What if… I spend $30k on a website redesign, and I don’t see any ROI?”
”What if… someone thinks I’m incompetent?”
“What if… I’m not good enough, fast enough, smart enough, strong enough, or just enough?”
As you read these statements, was there tension in your chest? Did you feel nervous or anxious? I’ve had all of these thoughts and worries as an Entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs do. Whenever you hear yourself saying these sentences in your mind or whenever you feel this type of anxiety, swap the letter “f” for an “s” and see what happens.
Here are some of the power statement examples within “What is…”
“What is… my responsibility in the situation?”
“What is… my goal?”
“What is… the one thing (the first thing) I can do today to progress toward my goal?”
“What is… in my power to change?”
“What is… the truth?”
“What is… important right now?”
“What is… the opportunity cost of inaction?”
“What is… the path I choose to take?”
“What is… the opportunity in this challenge?”
“What is… a third alternative I haven’t thought of yet?
What did these statements feel like? My guess is you felt empowered, ready to face the challenge, excited, and maybe even a little exhilarated. Fear is a liar because it tries to get us to believe we aren’t capable, and life is outside of our control. Fear puts us in a fixed mindset where we are stuck. How often do we delve into these fears and let them control our thinking or, worse, debilitate our actions?
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, may have put it best when he said,
One of the Entrepreneurs I coached was continually worried his company’s software and app were not able to keep up with a competitor. The competitor was the largest in the industry, and my client was trying to compete by adding developers, money, and resources to building the most feature-rich app possible. He feared that the offering was not as good, and they would lose clients and market share if they didn’t keep adding tools and features like their competitor. The trouble was, ninety percent of all expenses were being spent on the dev team salaries and technology. “They kept asking ‘What if’ we didn’t keep up?” and “‘What if’ we don’t have the best technology?”
I started asking them, “What is” questions.
Q- “What is the offering in its current iteration?”
A- “A pretty good product.”
Q- “What is the minimum viable product?”
A- “We’ve already achieved it.”
Q- “What is the worst that would happen to sales if you stopped developing today?”
A- “Probably nothing.”
Q- “What is the longest you could go without adding another feature and still get clients?”
A- “Probably a year, maybe a year and a half”
Q- “What is the best use of your money/revenue right now?”
A- “Adding salespeople.”
After several ‘What is’ questions, it was decided they would take the money they were going to spend on future development and spend it instead on hiring salespeople. The decision was clear. The software ‘is’ good enough in its current version. It was decided that there were enough features that new clients wouldn’t care and probably wouldn’t even notice if new features were not rolled out for a year or more, and current clients weren’t complaining about missing features. They focused their efforts on ways to make more money instead of adding development and ended up doubling revenue in one year. The competitor they were always worried about having comparable features with, was so impressed by the sudden jump in revenue, they decided to acquire my client’s company.
Changing the letter “f” to the letter “s” changes your entire perspective on the reality of life in the present moment. It brings focus to the “now.” It turns all of those stomach-churning feelings into a sense of determination and safety because you choose to take control. You truly do have control of your choices in every situation.
The next time you are feeling worried or anxious, I invite you to take a good hard look at the “What ifs” you are telling stories about and change them into “What is” true about the present moment and your responsibility in it. Give it a try. Think back to the fear you identified at the beginning of the article and apply three “what is” statements right now.
