Much has been written about fear and the paralyzing effects it can have on achieving success. It is important to accept the fact that every insurance agent has some degree of fear which may affect performance and results, and accept that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to take action despite any fear.
A favorite writing of mine on the subject comes from author and speaker Keith Luscher. I read it often to keep inspired to take action each day, despite any fear I might be feeling:
At one point over the holidays, when I should have
been updating my plans for this
coming year, I found myself
watching Batman Begins—the 2005 predecessor
to The Dark Knight. As
the movie chronicles Bruce Wayne’s ninja-style training
on a remote mountaintop
in Asia, I am often moved by the words of Wayne
mentor, Henri Ducard, played by Liam Neeson: “Training is nothing!
Will is everything!” Ducard tells Wayne
“The will to act!”
It was a pity that a character who played such a
strong role in Bruce Wayne’s
transformation into the legendary superhero,
turned out to be one his greatest
arch enemies. But the lesson I took from that
cold mountaintop (in the comfort
of my couch!) is that training is indeed meaningless if it is not used
—if it is not acted
upon.
Why do so many of us fail to act? We invest in
programs, in books and
videos, yet we remain stuck in our old routines. Or
worse, we go back
to doing nothing. We know what we must do; yet we lack the will to do it.
In
reality, we lack the courage.
Greatness
cannot exist without courage. Much of the erosion in
business and our
culture today is the result of people lacking the
courage to do what they
already know they should do. Consider
that historically, many people
who have fallen from grace were those who
had the highest training and ethics,
but lacked the courage—the will—to act.
Courage does not come easily. Remember, when we speak
of courage, we
are not referring to fearlessness or foolhardiness. Courage
cannot exist
without fear. It’s human to be afraid—as is the temptation to
take the
“easy” way out of a situation. However, what separates goodness
from greatness is the courage to do what is
right each and every day.
Christian author Tim Kimmel, in his book Legacy
of Love, describes
courage this way: “Although
it takes unusual courage to die for
something; it takes an even greater courage
to live for something.
Dying for a right cause takes one right
choice; living for a right cause
requires hundreds of choices each day, every
day.” Bruce Wayne faced
his fear, which gave him the courage and the will
to advance something
he believed in. What about you? Do you truly believe
in the value you
can bring to peoples’ lives? Do you know what you
must do? If so,
what might be holding you back, today?
Don’t worry
about tomorrow or next week. You are here, now.
For today, identify one action
for today, and take it. Summon the will.
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