Do What Scares You Most

When so many of us reflect on our lives, we find that the choices we've made, the actions we've taken have been dictated less by what we want and desire, and more by what we fear and seek to avoid. Whether it's fear of failure, fear of the unknown, or fear of heights, we let these feelings keep us from experimenting or from reaching our full potential.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Maybe your group is afraid of competing because the members don't think you'll stand a chance against more established groups. Maybe you fear recording because you don't think the CD will sell, and the group will end up losing money. Maybe you're afraid of going on tour because you're not sure you'll be able to connect with an audience. Maybe you're scared to cover a particular artist, because you don't think you can do the solo justice.

In each of these cases, a group will never know what it can accomplish until it tries. Competing, for example, doesn't really get much easier for sheer time spent waiting. If anything, the intimidation can grow for each passing year of inactivity. Once you have gotten started, though, the group will have the experience of singing on the competition stage, will have the concrete feedback of judges' scoring sheets, and will have the wisdom that comes with seeing other groups thrive in competition. On top of all of this, for all you know, the group may fare far better than you'd ever imagine when they actually get out there and try to compete for the first time.

In a sense, the fact that a group has trepidations should be a positive indicator that the group should do something, in that it means the group takes that item seriously. Look at your fears as challenges. Stop shying away from them and start strategizing how you might overcome that which is most daunting.