Godin says bad behavior and irrationality are driven by fear. Fear motivates, not necessarily in the right direction, but it indeed does energize. So, If you want an answer to the question “Why?” ask this question: What are you afraid of? That’s a great question to add to the toolbox in addition to one that we already use: Where are you lacking confidence right now?

Hmmm.

If you want to change behavior, address the fear.

Hmmmm.

What chance is there that you are holding back, sabotaging yourself, short circuiting your success because you are afraid?

If you want to change the behavior, address your fears.

Hmmm. I think I like it……

One of the most helpful truths my friend Lee Brower has taught me is “Lift the Anchor.” When we face a big, insurmountable project we often fail to tackle it because of it’s size, or that the ‘getting ready’ is its self an enormous task. So the question is: How do you move a battleship? You don’t have to haul the anchor thousands of feet up from the sea floor and safely stow it on deck. All you have to do is lift the anchor an inch off the sea floor and you can move the ship. So the BIG SHIP in your life that you need to move only requires a small task to get started: Lift the anchor!

Lifting the anchor, taking action, take the first step, getting in motion—they are all the same principle. Norman Vincent Peale said “Inaction is both the result of fear and the cause of fear.” When we take action it begins to build our confidence (or restore confidence that has waned.) So get up off the couch, put on your sneakers, and walk the first 100 steps toward the physically fit you. That’s lifting the anchor. Clean just one drawer in your dressor, or one spot on your desk. That’s lifting the anchor. Sweep just one corner of your garage. Anchor’s away!

What BIG challenge do you face today? You can be paralyzed by fear and enormity, or you can take the first step.

Get in motion!

It hit me like a ton of bricks: You oughta “Pray, and not faint.”

I’ve heard and read that verse hundreds of times. It never mattered until last night. I was laying in my bed stewing over a problem at work, one that I can’t fix. Try though I might, I can’t muster up the power to fix it. It frustrates me. I toss and turn. I speak negatively to myself “Now you’ve done it. You can’t fix this one. You’re gonna fail. You’ll go down in flames. Loser.”

Then out of nowwhere (really?) came the thought “Pray and not faint.”

In Luke 18 Jesus was teaching his followers about the importance of having substantial faith instead of giving up. Here I was having “give up” talk with myself.

“Pray, and don’t faint.”

When I face trouble, its usually business related, and there’s usually a dollar figure attached to it. When its those “write a check and cure the problem” type of troubles its easy. When its those “can’t write a check big enough to cure that problem” then its time for worry, fear, haunting, voices from the past, and the sinking feeling that I am swimming in an ocean of waves so turbulent I can’t keep my head above water.

More self talk here….”Barry, you are an idiot. The One who created the Universe with His spoken word knows and cares for you. He invites you to cast all your cares on Him. He implores you to seek His help and here you are trying to swim through this by yourself. You know boy, it’s kind of stupid to go it alone. Yeah, I know you are strong and tough, but why retain the stress. Why not just call on God to help you? Why look to your obviously limited ability to fix things instead of to His unlimited ability? Why faint?”

Pride, I guess. And habit. It’s a habit that “I” have got to “figure out what to do” and that “I” am the “solution.” It’s a bad habit.

So, I need to change. I need to PRAY FIRST. That’ll be good. I’m tired of cracking my head on the floor everytime I faint.

I was recently a guest on Bryan Dodge’s radio show on WBAP in Dallas (see his website) after which we had great steaks at the Saltgrass Steak House (always a good place for a steak…..I eat there nearly every time I’m in Dallas) and talked for a few hours.

Our conversation was intense—go figure, Bryan is a wonderfully intense guy. At one point he said to me in his best imitation of an Old Testament Prophet, “A bigger wave is approaching. Be sure you step forward on the board.”

Huh?

“Step forward on the board.” He repeated.

The look of brilliant clarity on my face revealed my confusion, so he explained to me that he was speaking “surfer dude” language. Apparently he’s taken some surfing lessons and learned that when you are on a wave, transitioning to a larger wave, your intuition is to step backward on your board in effort to elevate the front of your board onto the top of the next wave. If you do this you’ll wipe out. Instead, you must act counter-intuitively and step forward on your board. The pressure on the front of the board actually causes the board to rise on the water. (About now all my physics friends are saying “well, yeah” and the rest of us are still going “Huh!”)

Bryan went on to admonish me “Don’t just lean forward. If you lean (meaning you haven’t really committed, you’ve just sort of paid token attention—-put in half-hearted effort) you’ll also wipe out. You must step both feet fully forward on the board.” You must commit to the next wave.

Interestingly enough this conversation came in the middle of one of the biggest weeks of accomplishment I’d ever experienced, both professionally and personally. An enormous period of accomplishment had led up to an incredibly huge week capped off by my dinner with Bryan. What he didn’t know though, was that I had said to a couple of key leaders on my team on more than one occasion that week “I feel like we are riding a huge wave and I just need to be sure and stay on the board. Don’t do anything stupid and wipe out.” Then Bryan comes along and without knowing of my wave metaphor says “Step forward on the board.”

That’s awesome. And if you think God doesn’t orchestrate things like that, we’ll then your brain is broken.

That conversation was two weeks ago. Every day since I’ve been thinking about what it means for me to step forward on the board.

What would it mean for you to step forward on the board? In what area are you holding back, slacking off, or hesitating? What big wave of opportunity awaits evidence of your commitment?

I’m convinced some people commit “surfer suicide.” They see the next big wave and it scares them because they know it is going to require them to get out of their comfort zone and develop new capabilities. So instead of stepping forward into greater achievement, they step back and “accidentally” intentionally wipe out.

Next time I see you will you be hangin’ ten? Or, are you going to have sand in your shorts?

Step forward on the board!