Showing Up

Lots of people are afraid of messing up.

But in order to mess up, first you have to show up.

So the easiest way to avoid messing up, is to hide.

We hide in many ways:

• by deferring to others ("let's have Sandra take this one, she's good at these things")
• by delaying ("I'll ask her out tomorrow, tomorrow will be better")
• by avoiding ("phone calls are nerve-wracking. I'll just send an email")
• by declining ("I hate networking, let's skip the social activity")
• by deflecting ("the client seems really upset, I'll just let my boss handle this one")
• by holding back ("I'll just say what they want to hear")

But when we do show up (and especially if we mess up), we get the chance to do something really valuable: to grow up.

Learning to deal with failure isn't just a path to success.  It's an essential step to creating a more fulfilling, less stressful life.