BIGG success is life on your own terms. The number one reason people don’t get ahead can be stated in just one term:

Choices.

Choose something

Many people are frozen by fear. So they do nothing. They don’t see this as a choice, but it is.

It’s a choice to remain average and ordinary. It’s a choice for the status quo. It’s a choice to remain stuck.

If you want to get ahead, do what the winners do: Choose to do something – even if it’s wrong!

When you try something, you learn. You now have a competitive advantage over the person who chose to do nothing.

Choose to live now

Okay, so you got out of your comfort zone. You tried something. Things didn’t turn out the way you hoped they would.

It’s at this point that many people make another harmful choice. They choose to demean themselves for the choice that didn’t work out.

For some people, there’s a ritual revolving around experiences like this. They feel bad. They feel like they failed. They start to beat themselves up – and not just for this one choice, but for almost every choice they ever made.

It’s a death spiral. It kills the spirit.

Winners know that outcomes won’t always equal expectations. So they choose to not worry about coming up short. They choose to tweak what they’re doing or to try something else.

They choose to live now, rather than in the past. They choose to only invest additional energy on things they can control, not things they can’t.

They choose to persevere, even if that means starting from scratch. And ultimately, it leads to BIGG success!

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Many people are too afraid to succeed. They are driven by the fear of failure.

The fear of the unknown is a frequent companion to this fear of failure. With this pair, it’s easy to get stuck like a wooly mammoth in a tar pit.

Only with humans, it leads to emotional death rather than a physical one.

BIGG success is about entrepreneuring your life – taking control to create the life of your dreams. Your life is your enterprise and you are the owner.

Do entrepreneurs experience this dismal duo – the fear of failure and the fear of the unknown?

Certainly.

As the entrepreneur of your life, how can you conquer these frightful fears? Let’s take them one at a time.

The fear of failure

You probably won’t really think about it this way. But you’ll feel it when it happens.

It will eat at you. You’ll have a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. It will spur you to overcome inertia and take action.

Once you sense it, you will use the replacement technique. You will replace one fear with another.

Wait just a minute…isn’t fear something you need to stare down? Can fear be positive? Can fear drive you forward?

Absolutely.

You will replace your fear of failure with the fear of not trying.

More specifically, you’ll know you’re ready to do something BIGG when your fear of not trying overwhelms your fear of failure.

It’s really a conscious choice. You get to choose your regret.

The regret menu only has two items on it. You can regret what you did or you can regret what you didn’t do. Order one and it will be yours.

Most people don’t think about the second one. They are driven by the first. If they try something and fail, they’ll feel regret.

But both research and anecdotal evidence from people close to death show that regrets about what you didn’t do are tougher to overcome.

John Greenleaf Whittier said it best:

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, “It might have been.”

You’re not most people. You’re a winner. You will be driven by what might be.

You can live with failure. You cannot accept not trying.

But it’s more than just that…

The fear of the unknown

We live in incredibly uncertain and volatile times. It terrifies the average person.

But you’re no ordinary human being. You’re extraordinary.

You accept the fact that you can’t predict the future. You have to create it yourself.

This isn’t a naïve point-of-view. In fact, it’s quite sophisticated. Because with this realization, like all successful entrepreneurs, you focus on the downside.

More specifically, you work to limit the risk of trying something. You begin actively engaging your mind with how to make it work.

Note that, while you’re doing this, most people are still listing off all the reasons that it won’t work. They continue to convince themselves that they would be a failure. And they will be.

But you’re busy mitigating the risk. Once you get the downside to an acceptable level, you give your idea a try.

You start small. You test it. You’re still in the research & development stage.

You’re learning while most people are worrying. Learn. Grow. Prosper. It leads to BIGG success.

How did you conquer your fears?

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Today on The BIGG Success Show, we continued our conversation with THE expert on Extreme Leadership, Steve Farber.

We’re talking about Steve’s latest book, The Radical Leap Re-Energized. Last time, Steve shared the definition of extreme leadership.

Listen to today’s show to discover:

Click a player to hear Steve talk with George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast.


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• why leadership is an extreme sport
  
• what makes leaders step up
  
• why “change the world” has become a cliche
  
• how to embrace the fear and anticipation to create change
  
• how to begin effecting change in an family, organization, or community

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00770_011212.mp3

How do you know you’re ready to start a business?

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For me, I just couldn’t stand working for anyone else. I had to be my own boss. It consumed me. I knew I wasn’t going to be happy until I tried it on my own.

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For me, it was because I thought it was the best way for me to grow professionally. My industry wasn’t offering a lot of opportunities at the time. Starting BIGG Success allowed me to expand my skills.

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Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast.


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Maybe you have an idea for a business. Maybe you don’t.

No matter what, something is driving you to want to start your own business.

Be happy about that something. Let it guide you.

Because it will take you to the key to success in your own small business. What is the key? You must get started.

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It sounds so simple, but it is so true. What I call my first real at-risk business was a Ben Franklin franchise. It wasn’t a particularly good business. But it got me started. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have started it. But I’m so glad I did because it has led me to everything else, including BIGG Success.

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When we started BIGG Success, we certainly didn’t have it all worked out. In fact, I’m amazed now at how little we did have worked out. Everyone in our business was still finding the models of success. But we started anyway and I’m so glad we did because it has led to opportunities I might not have seen otherwise.

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So what’s keeping you from getting started? Let’s talk about five common reasons and see if any of them resonate with you.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing

You don’t have to quit your job and go full-time. You don’t have to ignore all other sources of income. For example, you could work part-time and spend the rest of your time on your new business.

It will never be perfect

The planning process is incredibly important. However, don’t think you need a perfect business plan.

If you need to raise money, you’ll need a more detailed plan. But once you have a sense of the market, a decent strategy and some tactics to execute upon it, get going.

The timing will never be perfect either. There will always be a reason not to start:

We’re in a recession. We’re in a boom. We’re in between. Great businesses have been started in all economic climates.

You will never know everything

So don’t try. It will only lead to analysis paralysis.

There will always be more to learn. You can’t predict the future.

So don’t pretend you can. Get started once you have a reasonable understanding of your customers, your business, and your industry.

Some of what you know may be wrong

On this one, we can only say that you’re right. But that’s why it’s so important to get started.

Most of what you need to know can only be learned after you launch.

Fear

Fear of standing out. Fear of success. Fear of being different. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure.

How can you overcome these fears?

Ask a question, “What’s the worse than can happen?”

Entrepreneurs are excellent risk managers. So start practicing your entrepreneurial skills right now.

Focus on reducing the worst case scenario. When it reaches the point where you can live with it, you’re ready to start.

For example, can you start part-time? Or could you do it on a smaller scale initially?

There are a number of ways to get the risk down to an acceptable level.

There’s one more fear that we should talk about before we go. It’s a fear that drives entrepreneurs. It’s the fear of not trying.

When your fear of not trying overcomes your fear of failure, you’re ready to start. You’re ready for BIGG success!

Are you having trouble getting started? Maybe we can help.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00741-100511.mp3

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BIGG success is life on your own terms. You’re the entrepreneur of your life.

You may or may not be an entrepreneur in the traditional sense of the word. But you do own your life.

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today’s post on The BIGG Success Show podast. Click a player below to listen while you read.

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Destination BIGG success

BIGG success is a destination. You create a vision of the life you want. Then you start driving to it.

Hour by hour…

Day by day…

Week by week…

Month by month…

Quarter by quarter…

Year by year…

…you strive for BIGG success. More specifically, you push to get to the next milestone.

The ups and downs of BIGG success

But it can be challenging to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Frustration.

Stress.

Doubt.

Fear.

Joy.

Faith.

Confidence.

Success!

They’re all part of the journey.

The ups are easy. You can do no wrong. You are invincible. The world is your oyster.

The down times? Well, the only easy thing is quitting.

The high cost of quitting

Yet quitting isn’t easy. Because you have to live with it for the rest of your life.

You will always wonder what might have been. You can’t bear the thought.

It’s the reason you are an entrepreneur. Failure was acceptable. Not trying – well, just the thought of not going for it caused that feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Yes, it was scary. Yes, people said you wouldn’t make it.

But you didn’t care. You had to go. You had to try. You could feel in the depths of your soul that you were put on this earth to do something special. And by gosh, you were going to do it.

So you did.

But today sucked. Again.

You feel like you’ve been hit by a truck. You’re exhausted. You’re discouraged.

And it would be so easy to give up.

But you know you won’t. Because you’re a BIGG goal-getter. So you have to see this thing through. Because it’s what you were meant to do.

The victory is in the challlenge

And then you realize something important…you already are a BIGG success.

You can’t control the result. You can only control the activity.

And today – just like yesterday and every day before – you gave it everything you had. So you’re a BIGG success.

Because, as George Moriarty said, “Who can ask more a man than giving all within his span? Giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from victory.”

Then it hits you – the victory is in the challenge!

BIGG success is a journey

Sure, BIGG success is a destination. But it’s also a journey.

And every single day, you’re learning new things and developing new skills. It’s growth – one of the five elements of BIGG success along with money, time, work and play.

Money and time are your two resources; work and play your two opportunities. Growth bridges the chasm.

Growth starts as an opportunity. You’re capitalizing on it. You’re growing.

By growing – by gaining new knowledge and insight, by adding skills and experience – you’re developing the skills to get past ANY problem you face.

Growth is becoming a resource. By discovering how to overcome any problem, you’re also learning how to triumph over EVERY problem you will ever face.

Yes, you WERE a BIGG success today. And Destination BIGG success is just around the corner!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00710-062111.mp3

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