I was a coward for most of my adult life. I’ll say that again, I was a coward. I could have, should have and would have achieved so much more if I had overcome my fear of failure, of rejection, of not being good enough, b u t …. A perfect example is the blog I’m finally launching next month. Starting a blog is simple, but my fears stopped me for 10 year as I asked myself “why would anyone read this?” or “what if no one comments?” or “what if I have nothing interesting to say?” My cowardly instincts took over. |
The good news is that over the last few years, I’ve unconsciously and regularly taken many small steps on several big projects — and achieved many quick wins. So while I still had crazy big dreams, my consistent action of small and simple steps with its quick wins rapidly propelled me to where I wanted to go in life!
This idea of small and consistent action was researched by the very prominent Dr. Albert Bandura, one of the most important psychologists in history. Remember his name, Dr. Albert Bandura.
Very simple stated, Dr. Badura’s research showed that taking small and simple steps and enjoying the quick wins along the way is key to personal or organisational growth. He called this guided mastery.
So while it’s vitally important to have that crazy stretch goal, guided mastery tells us to plan for simple and small steps along the way, achieve quick wins and small successes, and before you know it, WHAM! Fear disappears and you can really see dreams coming true.
And for me, that meant being less of a coward… And today, I’m officially a retired coward.
Do share your “coward to retired coward” stories with me ok? I’m sure you have at least one and your story will certainly help me maintain my retired coward status!
Oh, by the way, I’m really launching my blog next month and it will contain lots of very simple tips and tools to help you get ahead in life. The website isn't ready yet (patience please) and I’m still choosing the website address. It’s either www.influence.plus or www.theReallyDifferent.one.
I’ll let you know once I go live with the new website and we can all share simple tips and tools and really make a difference!
Jeff Tan
Retired coward