Have you ever wanted to do something, but you had a ton of reasons why you couldn’t or shouldn’t do it? It’s completely normal to have objections get in the way of things you want to do, especially when you’re venturing into new territory or the outcome is uncertain.
Not knowing what might happen can be scary when you’re taking a new risk. The problem is, if you let your objections get the best of you and avoid taking action, you’re going to miss out on the potential benefits of a positive outcome. If your actions tend to be ruled by your objections, you’re doing yourself a disservice. There are some really good reasons to take action despite any hesitation or objections you may have.
Not all objections are accurate.
Sometimes, when you’re afraid of failure or the unknown, your brain will give you a bunch of reasons not to do something, but those reasons won’t be accurate. At the moment, they’ll feel legitimate, but they often fall apart under the slightest scrutiny.
One example is if you are seriously injured in a car crash. When you realize you won’t be able to pay your medical bills, you might hesitate to file a lawsuit because you don’t want to take on even more debt. However, most personal injury lawyers take cases on a contingency, which means you don’t pay anything until and unless you win. You have nothing to lose by getting an attorney in this case.
Another example of an inaccurate objection is feeling like you’re going to be completely rejected. While rejection is a possibility, sometimes that feeling comes from a place of previous experience rather than the reality of the current situation.
For instance, if you’re applying for your dream job and you have received prestigious awards in your field, feeling like you’ll get rejected is probably not based on facts but on previous rejections.
It can be difficult to distinguish between an objection based on the facts and one rooted in past trauma. The best thing you can do is ask someone else for their perspective. We all have blind spots that other people can help us see past.
Fear changes your perception.
If you find yourself thinking you shouldn’t take a specific action because you know ahead of time the result will be disastrous, it’s possible that fear is controlling your thoughts. Fear is a powerful emotion, and it can come from a variety of sources, including past experiences and a general fear of the unknown or uncertainty. Either way, fear changes the way you perceive life. It changes how you see opportunities and potential, and it can even interfere with your ability to form logical conclusions.
A big yet common fear is the fear of failure, and it will hold you back from being successful. If you don’t take chances because you’re afraid of failing, you’re cutting off the potential for success. And even if you do fail, there’s nothing wrong with that. You can’t win everything every time, and failure is actually a good learning experience. It’s truly a gift because when you fail at something, you learn. Consider it similar to troubleshooting. You have to try various things to know what works. Once you figure out what works, you have a repeatable recipe for success that you can apply to other areas of life.
Success happens in stages.
If you’re afraid to take action because that action won’t produce the final result, consider that success happens in increments and not all at once. Whatever your goal is, you’ll have to show up and take small steps, one at a time.
Sometimes, unexpected success happens.
Many people experience unexpected success when they are certain they will fail. The truth is, it’s hard to know for sure what the outcome will be in any given situation, but there’s always a chance that you might win, even if you’re convinced of your impending failure.
It happens to people all the time. Someone gets a dream job they didn’t feel qualified for or they land a promotion with high competition. Some people even experience positive outcomes in situations that feel completely random but end up leading them to their dreams.
Risks are necessary for success
Even though you have what seem like good reasons not to take certain actions in your life, it’s worth re-examining your beliefs. If you want to be successful in whatever endeavor you’re pursuing, risk is part of the equation. You won’t win all the time, but if you never take any risks, you’ll never win at all.