Page 162 - Never Fly Solo

NEW DAY, NEW JET | 135
We all have limitations. Fear and self-doubt will somehow
creep into our heads. Going into my check ride, I knew I
would be fearful and nervous no matter how much I pre-
pared. But I learned that the key is to get into a frame of mind
where your focus is on winning rather than on not losing.
Interesting distinction. To focus on not failing, you have to
focus on failure, and this incites the fear that clouds our judg-
ment and strangles our ability to take the right action. We
wind up messing up and, in essence, “flipping the wrong
switches.”
We see this in business all the time. Fear and doubt creep
in. Can I make the sale? Will I be rejected on this cold call?
Will I be able to find another job? Am I going to meet my
budget? Will my boss approve of the forecast? Instead of
focusing on the win, we focus on what will happen if we fail.
When we’re caught in this vicious cycle, we wind up trying to
take off with our brakes on, with the result that we can’t
execute with confidence and let our skills shine through.
When we take our focus off the outcome and instead
focus on the moment that stands before us, we can face a
challenge with power and confidence rather than fear.
I like to define how we handle fear in two ways: we can
either Forget Everything And Run or Focus Energy and Accept
Responsibility. Either way, the fear is still there, but in one
response we are running away from it, and in the other we are
walking straight into it. So how would you rather look at
something scary in your life: from over your shoulder or fac-
ing it head-on?
In Chapter 9 we talked about deciding to abort a mission.
While there are appropriate times to abort (as I did before the
flight back to the United States from Spain), sometimes you
have to buckle down, focus, and take action, especially when