“What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” – Robert H. Schuller
This is a question every entrepreneur should ask as they set their goals for the year, quarter, month or even day. Many times we look at our potential accomplishments through a lens of self-doubt, “I’ll never be able to get that many customers, so I’ll lower my goal;” “I’ll never raise enough money to advertise there, so I’ll settle for a few banner ads there;” or even “I’m just starting out. What if I fail? Maybe I should rethink this whole thing.”
I encourage you to re-read the quote at the top of this post, and imagine how great your business would be if you approached everything with a “can’t fail” attitude. This doesn’t mean you throw caution to the wind and invest money you don’t have or make promises to customers you can’t keep. Instead, it means that you need to think bigger and look at your potential through a lens of confidence. What marketing promotion would you do if you were guaranteed to reach 1000 customers and convert at least 10% of them into sales? Who would you call if the next 3 organizations you approached about being a guest speaker were going to automatically say yes? What prospective strategic partner would you attempt to collaborate with if you knew his or her answer would be, “I’m so happy you called! I’ve been wanting to partner with you for months but was too nervous to reach out?” I know these are ideal scenarios, and nothing is guaranteed, but think of the possibilities. Many of us would operate much differently if success was a given.
CONFIDENCE CHALLENGE: When you go over your to-do list for the coming week, place one of those big ideas on it. Add those one or two things that would truly propel your business forward, whether it’s contacting a potential customer, reaching out to a new mentor or even accomplishing that thing you were too scared to do last week. Your goal is to push the doubts to the side and operate in confidence. You can do it! Don’t let the possibility of failure destroy your potential for success!