YIPES! Why Being Scared to Death is Good for Your Career

Flop Sweat.  That ought to be the name of my company, Flop Sweat LLC.

Flop Sweat:  nervous perspiration caused by a fear of failure before an audience.  This, my friends, is the story of my life.

So why is flop sweat/fear of failure such a constant theme in my work?  Because I think it’s important to do scary things – like public speaking, organizing big events, taking on complex projects with tight deadlines, and negotiating with tough customers of all types.

I can remember times when my fear of failure almost put me into a faint.  One example is a huge community planning event designed to bring together observant Jews and African Americans to create Vision Sherman Park.  Somewhere between the PowerPoint, the survey results, the intricate seating arrangements, the marinara sauce, and Rabbi Twerski, I found my footing but only after repeating, oh, probably a hundred times, my mother’s inevitable response as I whined about some upcoming presentation at school, “A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero dies but once.”

Every scary thing I’ve done and survived has ratcheted up my competence and willingness to take risks.  Moreover, I’ve learned to trust my judgement and believe in my own voice.  To say to yourself, “I’m afraid but I’m doing it anyway” is very empowering and a lot better than saying, “I’m scared to death and I’m going to find somebody to hide behind.”

Friends and colleagues who complain about how boring their work is strike me as people unwilling to bust out of the tiny circle they’ve drawn around their professional role.  You know the feeling — scared to make a fool of yourself on the dance floor, you hang back with all the other drips not realizing you would be a lot less of a drip if you would just freakin’ DANCE.

So as my mother would say, “If you’re bored, you have only yourself to blame.”  (My mother was a sweet, gentle person but she did have a lot of hardcore attitudes.) My guess is that people who are bored with their work are doing the same 10 things over and over.  They find excuses why they can’t take chances — their boss won’t let them, it’s not in their job description, they might FAIL.  That’s ok.  People want to be stuck, they can be stuck.  But they won’t grow.

My career hasn’t been a  beautiful string of successes.  I’ve had several head-hanging, what was I thinking, will I ever work again moments in my business. Thank goodness, there’ve been enough successes and good work to help most people forget the mistakes.  But I can guarantee you — I am absolutely never bored.