Hard Times Coming
Perhaps you have heard the story about the professional engineer who finally got his big job. He decided to have a huge party to celebrate and went to the neighborhood bar and restaurant to make arrangements. While he was there, he noticed a newspaper. The headline read: “Hard Times Coming.” That did it. He changed his mind. No party. “Haven’t you heard,” he told the owner, “hard times are coming.” He then called his wife. “You know that dress you ordered for the party? Cancel it. Hard times coming.”
The wife called the dressmaker and cancelled the dress. Hard times coming. The dressmaker called the developer of the new building where she was going to open her big new space. Cancel the space. Hard times coming. The developer called the professional engineer. Tenants are bailing out. I can’t hire you after all. Hard times coming. Then, of course, the professional engineer went back to the bar to drown his sorrows. He spotted the paper across the room. The headline seemed bigger than ever, “Hard Times Coming.” He got up for a closer look. The paper lay wrinkled in a corner. It had been used by the owner to wrap his glassware and china. The professional engineer looked at it more closely. His eyes finally moved frome the headline to the date. The paper was 20 years old.
Every crisis we face is multiplied when we act out of fear. Fear is a self-fulfilling emotion. When we fear something, we empower it to become fearful. If we refuse to concede our fear, there is nothing to fear. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said it better: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The essence of moral and political leadership lies in the ability to force us to face our fears and, by so doing, overcome them..
Even the most talented are not immune from the curse of fear. When Johannes Brahms was only 20 years old, it is evident he was a musical genius of the first order. On a visit to his idol, Robert Schumann, the great composer was so impressed with Brahms’ gifts, both as a composer and as a musician, that Schuman declared that he had met the “next Beethoven.” That did it for Brahms. For 23 years, he was unable to complete his first symphony for fear of having his work compared – unfavorably – to that of the supreme musical figure of all time. “To write a symphony is no joke,” said Brahms, as he agonized and the world waited. Finally, the “First” was introduced in 1876. Schumann’s prophecy proved true. Brahms’ First Symphony was hailed as “Beethoven’s Tenth” and has remained so popular that even today it is among the pieces most often performed in the classical repertoire. With the First at last, Brahms was able to chill out a bit, and he then went on to produce three more well-regarded symphonies in the remaining 20 years of his life.
Fear is a disease that rots our will to succeed. Take away fear of rejection and we’ll make the calls, beat the pavement, get the training, and do what has to be done to find work.
based on work from Harvey Mackay – Sharkproof – Harper Business
