The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth
Chapters 6-7
Wealth and the Fear of Failure
What is fear of failure, and why does it hold so many of us back? Fear of failure comes in many forms, but it can basically be distilled down to two key areas:
2) Fear of embarrassment
The best way to overcome fear is to combine knowledge with planning and action. Whatever investment or business opportunity decision you are facing, get the facts, plan your course of action, and take action--that is: plan your work, and work your plan. Nothing beats fear like bold action.
The alternative to action is to stay where you are. If you are happy with your current socio-economic status, then you have nothing to fear, because you will never take the risks or encounter the danger of failure. Popular success literature frequently touts the advantages of failure, and to a certain degree I agree with their philosophy of “failing your way to success.” However, the one element that is often overlooked in deriving a benefit from failure is the need to learn from failure. If you engage in a given business transaction and fail, you must learn and remember the hard lessons of this failure to prevent making the same mistakes over and over.
Therefore, the sixth step in your quest for financial freedom is to learn how to fail—constructively.
When Thomas Edison conducted over 10,000 experiments to perfect the light bulb, he did not look at the failed experiments as “failures,” rather, each experiment demonstrated how not to make a light bulb. Failure for Edison was a learning experience, which he capitalized on to bring light to the world. In a sense, his experiments were the epitome of the maxim “try, try, again,” exemplified in this quote by Buckminster Fuller: “Whatever humans have learned had to be learned as a consequence only of trial and error experience. Humans have learned only through mistakes.”
Edison’s experiences are also indicative of a critical difference in attitudes among successful versus unsuccessful people. Like Edison, successful people view mistakes as results, such as the testing of hypotheses in an experiment, while unsuccessful people see mistakes as a permanent result, unworthy of further effort.
The fear of failure may also be rooted in a natural human fear of the unknown. Any business venture or investment holds an element of risk, and as the limits to that risk become uncertain, or poorly defined, you may find yourself becoming more fearful of getting involved. This is a normal, and prudent, emotion. As an entrepreneur you need to work harder to quantify that risk. Ask yourself, what is the worse case scenario for this business opportunity? If the worse case scenario is tolerable, based on your financial and emotional strength, than there is no reason not to attempt it. If however, the worse case scenario is intolerable, you must do something to reduce the risk or level of potential loss before getting involved.
Another impediment to progress is the setting of unrealistic goals. Goals can become overwhelming to the point that they make you fearful of getting started. For example, if you have written a goal to invest in 10 income-producing houses within the next year, the daunting task of finding and purchasing 10 houses may subconsciously sabotage your efforts to get started. Perhaps a better way to approach such a goal is to set a goal to buy 1 income producing property within the next 60 days. After achieving that goal, immediately set another goal to buy another property. Goals will be discussed in more detail later in this report.
Starting a business itself can be a daunting task, and may create an element of fear due to the rate of business failures you frequently hear about. At the end of 2003, Internal Revenue Service statistics indicate there were 18.6 million firms with no employees, and 7.2 million firms with employees. Combined, these firms contributed 23 billion dollars paid in taxes to the federal government. According to the Bureau of the Census, two-thirds of new employer establishments survive at least two years, and 44 percent survive at least four years. Over the past decade, small business net job creation fluctuated between 60 and 80 percent. In 2005 there were 671,800 new firms started, with 544,800 firms closing, of these 39,201 declared bankruptcy. As you can see, the business of America is business, with small business owners leading the way. Despite the projections of failure, our economy and government thrive on small business start-ups.
In the end, it is not the number of times you fail that counts, but the number of times you succeed. Consider Hank Aaron. He struck out far more times than he hit homeruns. Was he a failure? Is he remembered for striking out? In another example, Floyd Landis won the pro cycling Tour de France in 2006. During the course of this 21-stage event, he lost 20 of the individual stages. However, his overall time for the entire event placed him in the lead. Was he a failure for losing 20 out of 21 stages? Or, was he a success for maintaining the best overall time among the 160 competitors in the event?
Wealth Building Requires Personal Action
Modern American society has become one of dependence. We have become spoiled by government handouts and liberal ideas that say, “Society owes us.” Society owes you nothing, and sadly, nobody but your spouse and mother give a damn if you are successful or not. In fact, your spouse and mother may like the idea of you working in a “steady” and “secure” job your entire life.
If you wish to become a successful business owner, you must decide right now that you are the only one that can make it possible. Don't wait for the lottery, and don't dwell on your misfortunes. This is self-pity, and it will get you nowhere. As we stated earlier, most successful people have buckets of failures in their lives. The difference is, they keep trying, while failures give up or never try in the first place.
To become successful, stop whining about the status quo, your upbringing, and the odds stacked against you. Pick up your shovel and start digging yourself out of the rut today.
So, the seventh step to achieving wealth beyond reason is to accept personal responsibility for your own success.
What does it mean to “accept personal responsibility” for your life? In the context of this report, accepting personal responsibility means:
1. Recognizing that you are in charge of your life, which includes the choices and goals you set for yourself.
2. The decisions you make are yours, and any credit for success, or blame for failure, rests entirely upon you.
3. Taking care of your physical and mental health.
4. Understanding that nobody cares about your financial future as much as you do. Therefore, the impetus to achieve your financial goals must come from you. Nobody else is responsible for motivating you to succeed.
Accepting personal responsibility has many rewards, including a sense of self-reliance, rugged individualism, and the satisfaction of cutting your trail through life. On the other hand, refusing to accept personal responsibility can hurt you in a number of ways. Failure to accept personal responsibility can:
- Foster of an attitude of dependency upon others.
- Destroy your ability to create and maintain positive relationships with others.
- Set you up for failure when your network of supporters tires of propping you up.
- Sabotage your ability to deal with fear and the uncertainty of the marketplace.
- Cause your physical and mental health to deteriorate.
People who are overly dependent upon others typically feel life is unfair, have a negative outlook on life and the opportunities life offers, and frequently place blame for their personal on others. None of these characteristics are conducive to the wealth building process. As a wealth builder, I had to learn to look inward for motivation and ideas. While it is helpful to maintain relationships with professionals, and to depend upon them for advice on such things as taxes, legal issues, and health matters, this does not excuse you from exhausting all of your personal resources prior to seeking help. For example, I use an accountant to assist with my taxes, but throughout the year I maintain accurate records of my profit and losses, and strive to keep abreast of changing laws that may impact my tax status. When it comes to health, I try to exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Yet every couple years I get a physical.
So, how do you become more responsible for your life? You start by setting realistic goals and mapping out specific plans of action to achieve these goals. Follow this with the recognition that you alone are responsible for achieving these goals, and make the deliberate decision to work towards your goals. I have found that with clearly defined goals, the motivation and energy to assume personal responsibility falls into place.
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Copyright 2007 The 17 Principles of Creating Wealth Make Money At Home
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