I’ve heard this story shared many times in my travels and yet I still see people making this mistake all the time.  The story goes like this:

There is this very pious Jew named Goldberg who always dreamed of winning the lottery. Every Sabbath, he’d go to synagogue and pray: “God, I have been such a pious Jew all my life. What would be so bad if I won the lottery?” But the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win. Week after week, Goldberg would pray to win the lottery, but the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win. Finally, one Sabbath, Goldberg wails to the heavens and says: “God, I have been so pious for so long, what do I have to do to win the lottery?” 

And the heavens parted and the voice of God came down: “Goldberg, give me a chance! Buy a ticket!” 

Human beings, in general, spend a lot of time making excuses about why they don’t have the things they want in their life. We’ve heard them all:

I’m too old, I’m too young, I can’t afford it, I don’t have time, I’m too tired, It’s too ‘risky’

Or they spend time worrying about what might happen if they ‘go all in’ on whatever their aspiration might be and scare themselves out of even trying. (If I quit my job and start my dream business, it might go bankrupt and I’ll lose everything and so therefore, I’m not going to bother trying.)

Call me Pollyanna, but, I truly believe that if you have an authentic, natural desire to be, do or have something in your life – you have within you the energy, the knowledge, the power, and whatever else you need to make it so. No more excuses, no more worrying – decide what you want and take action to make it a reality.

You can’t ‘win’ if you don’t buy a ticket, so get in the game, give yourself a chance and let the rest unfold!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Fear as an acronym is False, Expectations, Assumed Real.  It’s a mental construct of a future oriented projection.  (It’s you imagining the future and falsely predicting a negative outcome in your mind.)  Here’s the thing: fear only has real power when it lives and breathes between your ears.  The first step to combating it – verbalize it.  

I’ve had countless clients who have sat in my office, paralyzed by the ‘thought’ of what might happen.  Once I have them say it out loud, it’s as if they just dropped a 500 lbs. backpack that they’ve been carrying around.  If you don’t have a coach that will hold the space for you to verbalize your fears – write them down.  It’s amazing what happens when you take your thoughts and transcribe them into the written or spoken word.

I assure you that this simple action step will free you of the strong hold of fear.  Once you know exactly what you’re dealing with, you can plan how best to take inspired action steps.Simply ask yourself: What am I afraid of? or What’s the worst thing that can happen here?

Fear only has the power that we give it.  Similarly to the Wizard of Oz, when we pull back the curtain, it’s a little tiny spec that used to have a big voice and now, we see it for what it really is.

- Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.