Facing our fears to become achievers

If you have ever read the Harry Potter books you should have noticed that the books got to high levels of what they call black magic as the story progressed and drew to a close. The story was captivating that I was incapacitated to do get anything else done but engrave myself in the book once I got my hands on each book. Having watched all the films up to 7 A, which was the first part of the last book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I became afraid and fearful and told myself that I didn’t have the balls to watch the second part of the film 7 B since the first part had bucket full of scary encounters that I found myself screaming in the theatre. No shame in that as in my company were kids of not more than 15 years and my cousin who closes her eyes whenever a scary part came up.  The story line all along was about good vs evil depicting Harry and his gang as those fighting for the good guys while ugly Lord Voldemort (always wondered why with all his powers he couldn’t get a better face)was the evil’s side top dog. The point of all this is that I would have missed watching the end if I had given into my fears and thereby missing Harry kicking Lord Voldemort’s behind and subsequently good triumphing over evil.

In management as in life, we have to be brave enough to face our fears head on to achieve the victory that made us go through it all. I saw someone with (paraphrased) a t-shirt which said ‘Pain is temporary but Success is forever’. When I stopped to think about it, I found that it resonates with facing our fears or things that if given an option we wouldn’t go ahead and do them. If you want to be successful, achieve goals and objectives set we have to strive to ensure our house is in order. This may prompt one to ditch his friends who are fun to be around but who happen to derail his very efforts of being a productive staff even though the alternative may be boring, discarding traits that make you the least valuable team member transforming you to be the most valuable team member who every team leader wants, or as a manager firing those employees that pull the performance of others down resulting in failure to meet the set out goals.

Accomplishment in such actions may require one doing away with close associates which is hard to execute due to the emotional bonds shared but they are critical if attainment of the bigger picture is at stake. The result of undertaking such an action may either elevate you to greatness or doom you to failure; depending on what one chooses between the easy way out or facing your fear and attacking what you know pulls you to underperform. The people around who are achievers will be evaluating you from a far check whether they can either partner with you and be more than acquaintances or abandon you due to the logic that professional associations from work or through networking are built on the basis of ‘what can I benefit from you’ and if there is no benefit from their association with you in any form then there is no point in associating with you. Their choice of action may be influenced by their view that partnering with you may not take them to the next level either as a business partner, or as a colleague, or being a member of your team. This may mean you remain of no real/unique value.

Implore yourself to weed out all the characters that you may have or people/things that are barriers to reaching your potential of being the best, and more even if it sends you to mourning but if it is for the good of achieving your goals then go ahead and take the step of faith. Being fearful will only serve to put you in a state that when you look back and you shall say ‘I sure could have done more with my life’. The smart people around you always know what is hindering you from getting to the point but funny thing is they won’t engage you until you show some effort therefore in your journey to facing your fear you shall find willing hands to help you in carrying you to your dreamland, so step out and reach out towards your potential.

Just like Harry Potter did in facing the evil Lord Voldemort when no one wanted to face him let alone say his name he found out that there were other willing helpers to help him through. The first step is always the hardest to make but once it is made you shall cause a chain reaction and eventually such words like good boss, best team leader, best employee, best mate will be associated with you. Go deep into the well that will supply you with the courage, the fight and the ammunition that will power you to emerge victorious in your pursuit of reaching your potential.