Cancer and Business... One and the Same :)

I’ve often told our team that cancer has taught me a lot about my Shaklee business. I had thought about titling this entry, “Everything I know about Business I learned from Cancer,” but that implies I know a lot about business and sets the bar too high. The truth is, going through cancer just taught me about overcoming fear and pushing forward, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable. And that’s really what being successful in life is all about. At every stage of life, at every life-changing moment, you are faced with an obstacle that is scary, larger than life, and that little voice inside tells you, “No way!”

When I was diagnosed, the enormity of the journey we were facing was mind blowing. I couldn’t even comprehend the enormous battle in front of me. How do you fight for your life with 2 little ones to care for? What hope did I have to be there to see my kids grow up and have their own babies? Where was my guarantee that if I walked this harrowing path of chemo and radiation and surgery that I would live to tell my tale of survival? It took me a long time to realize it, but I had to face facts. There ARE no guarantees in life. No one would tell me I was cured or cancer free. No one would tell me that it wouldn’t come back. No one would tell me I was well, except for…me. I had to give myself permission to believe that I had beaten my cancer. That I had done all I could. That I was DOING all I could to prevent a recurrence. And this would be the hardest obstacle I had faced. Chemo and multiple surgeries and radiation were nothing compared to overcoming FEAR. I feared hope. I feared believing in what COULD be. I feared failure. What if I believed I was well and the cancer came back? What if I hoped for a long and healthy life and I was wrong? But that’s the thing about hope. It’s not about guarantees. It’s about a belief so strong, you believe against all odds. You cling to what could be without agonizing over the possibility of failure. You move forward because you can’t imagine continuing to exist where you are.

And that is what cancer taught me about succeeding in life. So many of us suffer from a malady I call “Paralysis by Analysis.” We are stuck in our current situation in life. Paralyzed by fear. When we begin to imagine a different future, a different way of life, we are immediately pummeled by doubt and analysis. You can’t do it. You tried this before. You have a family to think about. It’ll take too much time. It’s too hard. You aren’t smart enough. You are too shy. It’s all pie in the sky talk. So we are stuck, never moving forward because we can’t see past the larger-than-life obstacles in your path. And we all have our own cross to bear. Not enough time. Not enough money. Past trauma. Too many people relying on you. Too many “failures.” Whatever your FEAR…Give yourself permission today to SUCCEED. No one can do it for you. There is no secret. The hardest thing you will ever do is move past fear of the unknown and give yourself permission to do something incredible. And there will never be guarantees. I can’t guarantee that if someone begins the FastTrak program, they will have earned 6 figures in 15 months. Depends on what they do in 15 months. But the very first step, and the hardest one, is determining that it okay to HOPE. And hope should spur action. And action will create forward momentum. And forward momentum will create results. And results GUARANTEE success!! It all begins with YOU.

So where are you? Identify your obstacles. FEEL the fear. Embrace it. Take a deep breath… and make that first step forward. Move forward in hope. Because every journey begins with that first step.

“To get something you have never had, you have to first do something you have never done.”