Faith or Fear in the Parachute ?
Several years ago, I completed a parachute jump. Obviously jumping out of a plane thousands of feet above ground isn’t the safest thing you can do, or the sanest if you listened to my friends comments at the time. I went with my son who had been looking for some adventure at the time to save him from boredom. He didn’t have his driving licence at the time & I had to drive him there, wait while he did the training and then drive him home. When I found out how long it was all going to take I told him to book me in as well.
It is necessary to complete a day's training and learn the things that can go wrong with your parachute, and possible (but not probable) ways to fix those while plummeting to the ground at warp speed.
Some decide to opt out of the jump after the training. They allow fear to drive their decision. I was scared, but decided to jump, having faith that my parachute was packed correctly and that I would make it to the ground safely. After the training we were taken up 2 or 3 at a time. My son and I were in a group of 3, and the other guy was doing his jump for the 2nd time, so he was told to jump first.
I chose to jump before my son, as I said to the instructors at the time "I have no wish to watch my son plummet to his death if something goes wrong ". They looked warily at me with this statement and asked "But you are jumping too, don't you have any fear about that?". I answered yes but that is my fear and I have control over my choice to jump or not.
The experience was exhilarating and those I encountered back on the ground wanted to know how it was. I found it difficult to describe the rollercoaster of emotion that snaked through me on the plane ride up, listening to the sudden silence as the plane cut it's engines for us to jump, the climbing out and trying to hang on to the wing as I moved out to the end of it where I was supposed to let go, but in reality was pulled away by the sheer weight of all that gear on my back, and the current of air whooshing past and grabbing me as it went, the falling and sorting out the tangle of the parachute's ropes, the yank back up when the air caught the parachute and then suddenly the peaceful and relaxed floating- and this part after I realised that I was actually falling and not just 'stuck in mid-air, too light to come down of my own accord (I am all of 5'1") and thinking that someone may have to fly up and free-fall down to catch me and bring me back to earth - how embarrassing would that be !
But even harder to describe was the leap I made inside myself about being able to do anything. By making a faith-based decision, I allowed myself to grow from experience. Those who make the fear-based decision feel nothing but fear.
Living through uncertain and fast-changing times is a lot like skydiving, in the sense that you are taking calculated risks daily that run you through a flurry of emotions before landing on the ground or getting to the desired outcome. Resilience is needed to weather these frequent storms.
Unfortunately, I am currently seeing a lot more fear-based decision making with some of my clients. It seems that economic conditions and money worries have prompted some people to forget their vision, release their commitment to success and make decisions to cut resources, scale back, and abandon forward & positive thinking.
In their minds, they are making these decisions to help themselves ‘get through’.
In reality, these fear-based decisions will keep themselves, from growing. This happens when you make decisions based on fear: you isolate yourself, close yourself off to opportunities.. and energetically 'give-up' doing what is necessary to succeed.
People in business justify firing their support staff including assistants, bookkeepers and coaches - the very resources that are supporting the sustainability and growth of the business and making it possible for them to focus on their core brilliance. Some, even when they are hiring support staff, decide to go with the "less qualified person" making the excuse that is the only affordable way to go, or that this person would not stay; not thinking of the long-term value in having such a valuable input into their business [even if it does turn out to be for a shorter time only - and who is to say the less qualified & cheapest choice will remain anyway?]. When small business owners downgrade their support systems they put themselves in a backwards position; this is exactly the opposite of where they need to be to make progress.
The biggest reason small business owners sabotage themselves this way is because it’s uncomfortable to operate in faith. It’s scary to trust in yourself. It feels hard to have to make it happen yourself. However, if you really want to be a small business owner for the long haul, you must be able to “feel the fear and do it anyway”.
Those who don’t feel resilient make fear-based decisions and fade away within the first year or two of business, by tucking in their head and sending out resumes to get back into a more secure environment.
In contrast, I have witnessed clients, some who also had huge money concerns, make faith-based decisions, choosing to invest in themselves and their businesses, all the while trusting the outcome will serve them, and though it’s not always the way they thought it would be, in every case good resulted.
Faith is an essential characteristic for success when you own your own business. You can’t always see around the corner or know how life will go the next month or the next, but having faith will put you in a place of being willing to receive, open to opportunities and on a path of commitment to doing everything you can and must do to make your life, and your business a success.
Fear we are told is “False Expectations Appearing Real”
it can also be….
“Face Everything And Recover
Faith is “Finding Answers In The Heart”
Growth comes from having both Fear and Faith. Do you have do you have them?
Several years ago, I completed a parachute jump. Obviously jumping out of a plane thousands of feet above ground isn’t the safest thing you can do, or the sanest if you listened to my friends comments at the time. I went with my son who had been looking for some adventure at the time to save him from boredom. He didn’t have his driving licence at the time & I had to drive him there, wait while he did the training and then drive him home. When I found out how long it was all going to take I told him to book me in as well.
It is necessary to complete a day's training and learn the things that can go wrong with your parachute, and possible (but not probable) ways to fix those while plummeting to the ground at warp speed.
Some decide to opt out of the jump after the training. They allow fear to drive their decision. I was scared, but decided to jump, having faith that my parachute was packed correctly and that I would make it to the ground safely. After the training we were taken up 2 or 3 at a time. My son and I were in a group of 3, and the other guy was doing his jump for the 2nd time, so he was told to jump first.
I chose to jump before my son, as I said to the instructors at the time "I have no wish to watch my son plummet to his death if something goes wrong ". They looked warily at me with this statement and asked "But you are jumping too, don't you have any fear about that?". I answered yes but that is my fear and I have control over my choice to jump or not.
The experience was exhilarating and those I encountered back on the ground wanted to know how it was. I found it difficult to describe the rollercoaster of emotion that snaked through me on the plane ride up, listening to the sudden silence as the plane cut it's engines for us to jump, the climbing out and trying to hang on to the wing as I moved out to the end of it where I was supposed to let go, but in reality was pulled away by the sheer weight of all that gear on my back, and the current of air whooshing past and grabbing me as it went, the falling and sorting out the tangle of the parachute's ropes, the yank back up when the air caught the parachute and then suddenly the peaceful and relaxed floating- and this part after I realised that I was actually falling and not just 'stuck in mid-air, too light to come down of my own accord (I am all of 5'1") and thinking that someone may have to fly up and free-fall down to catch me and bring me back to earth - how embarrassing would that be !
But even harder to describe was the leap I made inside myself about being able to do anything. By making a faith-based decision, I allowed myself to grow from experience. Those who make the fear-based decision feel nothing but fear.
Living through uncertain and fast-changing times is a lot like skydiving, in the sense that you are taking calculated risks daily that run you through a flurry of emotions before landing on the ground or getting to the desired outcome. Resilience is needed to weather these frequent storms.
Unfortunately, I am currently seeing a lot more fear-based decision making with some of my clients. It seems that economic conditions and money worries have prompted some people to forget their vision, release their commitment to success and make decisions to cut resources, scale back, and abandon forward & positive thinking.
In their minds, they are making these decisions to help themselves ‘get through’.
In reality, these fear-based decisions will keep themselves, from growing. This happens when you make decisions based on fear: you isolate yourself, close yourself off to opportunities.. and energetically 'give-up' doing what is necessary to succeed.
People in business justify firing their support staff including assistants, bookkeepers and coaches - the very resources that are supporting the sustainability and growth of the business and making it possible for them to focus on their core brilliance. Some, even when they are hiring support staff, decide to go with the "less qualified person" making the excuse that is the only affordable way to go, or that this person would not stay; not thinking of the long-term value in having such a valuable input into their business [even if it does turn out to be for a shorter time only - and who is to say the less qualified & cheapest choice will remain anyway?]. When small business owners downgrade their support systems they put themselves in a backwards position; this is exactly the opposite of where they need to be to make progress.
The biggest reason small business owners sabotage themselves this way is because it’s uncomfortable to operate in faith. It’s scary to trust in yourself. It feels hard to have to make it happen yourself. However, if you really want to be a small business owner for the long haul, you must be able to “feel the fear and do it anyway”.
Those who don’t feel resilient make fear-based decisions and fade away within the first year or two of business, by tucking in their head and sending out resumes to get back into a more secure environment.
In contrast, I have witnessed clients, some who also had huge money concerns, make faith-based decisions, choosing to invest in themselves and their businesses, all the while trusting the outcome will serve them, and though it’s not always the way they thought it would be, in every case good resulted.
Faith is an essential characteristic for success when you own your own business. You can’t always see around the corner or know how life will go the next month or the next, but having faith will put you in a place of being willing to receive, open to opportunities and on a path of commitment to doing everything you can and must do to make your life, and your business a success.
Fear we are told is “False Expectations Appearing Real”
it can also be….
“Face Everything And Recover
Faith is “Finding Answers In The Heart”
Growth comes from having both Fear and Faith. Do you have do you have them?
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