PEOPLE
ARE YOU WHAT
IS HOLDING YOU
BACK?
BY JASON RUSH, CERTIFIED PETRA COACH
WHEN I started my first company, I was
young, optimistic, doing everything I knew
to be right—but I reached a point where
things just stopped moving. The momentum
that had started it all was gone.
One day I sat down and began to write
down what “success” looked like to me. It
took no more than a few minutes before
it dawned on me that I did not have a clear
picture or definition of what success
looked like in my business. And when I got
honest with myself, I realized the escalated
expectations that could come with success
scared me.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “fear
defeats more people than any other one
thing in the world.”
The biggest roadblock holding each of
us back is inside of us. Our fears that hold
our businesses back the most also happen
to be the ones that we are least aware of.
They are latent fears—ones often focused
around change, our abilities, or the unknown.
Many times, we resist doing things that will
allow us to reach our goals because reaching
those goals would bring us into unfamiliar
territory. Perhaps we are afraid of the ways
our lives could change once we reach our
goals. Perhaps we are afraid we could let
other people down.
One thing I’ve learned is that when a logical
decision meets a deep, unconscious fear, the
fear will always win.
The only way to level that playing field is
to bring your unconscious fear to light. Then,
you have the power to harness that fear to
push you toward your goals faster than you
could have imagined.
When I found myself at this point with my
first company, it was too late. My business
subsequently failed because I didn’t come
to terms soon enough with the ways I was
holding myself back. My next company was
different. I approached it by defining success
on Day One and immediately began to weave
the Rockefeller Habits/ScalingUp into the
fabric of my organization to form the path to
that success. I wanted everyone to know the
destination and the route to getting there.
If you sense your progress is blocked, your
business has lost momentum, or things are
just not working according to plan, I suggest
that you begin by sitting down and creating a
clear picture of what your success looks like.
Ask yourself some questions about that
success: How could your daily life change if
you achieve it? What’s the worst that could
happen? What’s the best that could happen?
How could your responsibilities change?
How could your relationships change?
Pay attention to any feelings you have in
response to the questions.
When you notice any points of anxiety
or discomfort, you have touched on an
area where an unconscious fear resides.
Think carefully about how you might be
resisting progress because of this fear. It
may look like procrastination, indecision,
setting goals too low, or even setting goals
impossibly high to ensure failure.
Here is the good news: uncovering your
unconscious fears—and the ways you
behave to protect yourself from them—
gives you immediate power. Learning that
I was ultimately self-sabotaging due to
fear of what that success could bring gave
me the power to define what my success
looks like, plan for it, and decisively take
actions that moved each of my subsequent
companies in the directions I wanted them
to go. Uncovered fear gives us added
motivation to find solutions, educate
ourselves, and reach out to others for help
when needed. Find your fears, own them,
and make plans that will move you past
them to the place that you want to be.
13