As I write this, I’m coming to the end of my annual ski trip with 2 long standing friends, but this year has been different- I’ve found myself holding back.
What me? Never!
I’m not the kind of person that ever holds back. After all, on ski slopes there is nothing that fazes me – ever, no slope too steep. Yet, when I look at the times that I have, for the runs that I have done, there is a marked difference between this year and last year.
Last year I was clocking 120 km/h on-piste and anything below 80 was pathetic, this year I had just 1 run above 90 km/h. Off-piste it was, ‘Hey Buddy this looks good’ and, before I got a reply, I was already half way down the slope.
This year it was different. Fear. Nope, not in the way most people think of it, skiing fast doesn’t scare me, off-piste doesn’t scare me. So why was this year different?
Why did I struggle in the deep snow? What was going through my mind?
…the Fear of Consequence.
I guess as we all get older and wiser we have more responsibilities;
- Responsibility to our families, to our staff and to our customers.
In the past, at this time of year, I had an empty order book and I had staff that could make the product.
This year I have a bursting order book and no staff to pick it up. Therefore, the hesitancy to throw myself down the mountain, to get the endorphin and adrenaline rush was dissipated by questions of ‘what if?’
Hurtling down a mountain at 120 km/h on rented skis on standard slopes is not normal behaviour, and I’m sure that if I was skiing in America I would be banned, but on skis there is little that fazes me and I never pass the point where I feel out of control. In fact, I would go as far as to say, my heartbeat hardly rises. Skiing on-piste is no challenge.
And yet this year, I did not exceed 90 km/h.
Off-piste, when conditions were good and easy, the snow fluffy and white, it was no challenge, but as soon as it got heavy my attitude changed. Subconsciously, it was hard work, I lost the free-flow and bounce, I made bigger turns and I went slower. Why?
…the Fear of Consequence.
Sitting here, reviewing the footage and thinking how, I thought I know, I was not in a happy place and that can be seen by the tension in my style; cramped and awkward.
I had to hold back to avoid injury.
The fear of consequence says, that the greater the level of involvement in the success of your business is, the more you will rein in your activities to ensure that you can provide.
I then realised, that I’m so beholden to so many people, that I could not possibly be free; I could not possibly just ski for the sake of skiing and let whatever may be, be.
The systems I’m building are not even close enough to being completed to remove the fear of consequence.
In your business, have you set up the systems to take over, so that you don’t need to worry about the ‘what if’s’ and the consequences?
My example is extreme I know, I’m an extreme kind of guy, I like dangerous sports that challenge, but as I get older, so the fear of consequence will come to bear and what I, and every other entrepreneur needs to do, is sit down and evaluate the ‘what if’s’.
Then put in place the systems that will take over if the ‘what if’s’ happen.
If you can set this up, then you would have provided a path to self-removal and security for all you work with or for.
Planning a strategy therefore has to be the first step.
I know that if we can put together a strategy to cover the ‘what if’s’, my holiday will be more adventurous, giving me that zest for life and adventure, because the fear of consequence would have been removed.
Do you have a fear of consequence?
And, if yes, what are you going to do to resolve it?
