Someone I previously worked with decided to go on his own and start a service business.
As we shook hands, I gently reminded him to work on his presentation skills, for we both knew he had a fear of looking foolish and not communicating too clearly and convincingly to his audience.
I could tell Simon's face was asking for help.
We decided he would practise on me: I would pretend to be his typical audience.
After scheduling the first presentation a couple of weeks down the road, we went our separate ways.
He spent those couple of weeks facing his fear, rehearsing his presentation and building on his self-confidence.
On the sixteenth day, he stood in front of me feeling a little embarrassed.
Once he got over this discomfort he did the entire presentation as if he was giving it to ten attendees.
He actually looked at me and the empty nine seats as if we were his audience.
He was slow at the beginning, nervously referring to his index cards for support.
A few minutes into the presentation, he put the cards aside and carried on as if the cards weren't even there.
As he progressed into it, I could see his confidence rising.
I finally smiled when he got into the swing of things, feeling very happy for him.
His posture was tall and composed, his voice radiated courage, the spoken words showed his complete knowledge of the product.
At the end, he was so impressed with himself that he laughed loudly and clapped hard and long.
"Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
I did it!" We went for a celebratory drink.
As I ordered our third round, I asked him how he really felt, from deep within.
He victoriously explained, "I was nervous at the beginning, I admit.
But the key thing was that I did not fight that nervousness.
I acknowledged it and at one point I decided to release it.
"You may have noticed I paused for a while at a certain point," he said.
I replied I did notice that and wondered why he had.
"That was when I released the fear and nervousness.
After that it was smooth sailing, don't you think?" I agreed it flowed very nicely from that moment on.
That was Simon's first step to conquering his fear of lacking confidence.
A few weeks later, he held a small presentation to seventeen people, then twenty.
This is a lesson we can all learn from.
By gradually increasing our self-confidence, one small step at a time, we can reduce and finally overcome our fear of greater success.
So, if you have a fear that is holding you back from greater achievements in life, what would that fear be? And are you willing to face it in the same way that Simon did?