Let Go of the Coconut

Mastering Fear - A Navy SEAL's Guide - Brandon Webb and John David Mann (Portfolio)

I work with folks all the time who have great ideas, the ideal entrpreneurial skill set, and the desire to branch out and run their own shop. Many put the pieces in place, business plans, market research, working with consultants to bullet proof (as much as you can) the process and some even get the financing lined up. Just when you think they are ready to pull the trigger, they back away and leav everything on the table.

So what stops them? More often than not, the only thing stopping you, is you. And what stops you? Fear. Maybe it's the great uncertainty, the great unknown; the lingering doubt of "what if" this doesn't work out? For is the great equalizer that levels the playing field and often level great ideas.

In Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide, retired Navy SEAL and bestselling author Branddon Webb, along with John David Mann (The Go-Giver series) offer up on of the best fear analogies ever with the story of the monkey and the coconut. Webb describes how a friend in the Philipines explained how they trap monkeys. "They dig a hole, place a coconut in it; the monkey reaches in and grabs the coconut, and his fist is now too big to pull out. He's trapped. All he has to do is let go of the coconut. But he won't do it. Why not? What keeps the monkey;s fist clenched? Fear. H's afraid of losing what he has, so he keeps the coconut and loses his freedom.

You want to take the leap and do your own thing, but for keeps your fist clenched on your coconut.

Webb draws on his vast experience in battle and business to craft, along with Mann, a playbook of five steps you can take to overcome your fears in business and in life. No you don't have to have survived the arduous Navy SEAL's BUD/S training course to apply these strategies to make marked improvements in your life.

I loved the chapter on knowing what matters. This seems like it should. Be pretty basic, common sense stuff, but I have found it's what often trips people up. Sometimes it real. Is as simple as knowing when to let go of the coconut.