I’ve always heard, “it takes money to make money,” but I also know that you can borrow money to get started. When someone believes in you and has faith in your abilities, they’ll loan you money as an investment to get going. This statement is true in overcoming our fears and addressing the challenges we have in our lives.
A perfect example of this is my enjoyment in riding my Spyder Motorcycle. On my fifty-eighth birthday, I went to the dealership with the intention of buying a “motor-scooter.” I had never driven a motorcycle before so the salesman asked me about my intended use with this scooter. When he heard about the steep hills around our home and my hopes to go on the freeway, he quickly dissuaded my purchase. A motor-scooter didn’t have the horsepower I’d need. Long story short, I left the dealership with a large, three-wheeled machine capable of moving sixty mph in under 4.3 seconds. I was petrified and my husband had to drive the bike home for me.
For the next week, I drove the Spyder around an empty parking lot and only ventured out to a city street when there was very little traffic. For the second week, I drove to the freeway entrance, turn around and come home. Each week I’d borrow from the confidence I’d built up the previous week and slowly progress to my goal of crossing the bridge. On the third week, I was on the freeway driving “up to” the entrance of the bridge and turning around just before I’d have to commit to driving across. I wasn’t afraid of driving across the bridge as much as I was afraid of some other car hitting me and throwing me over the side of the bridge into the water.

Finally, the day came when I had borrowed enough confidence from my previous days of riding to cross the bridge. I stayed in the center lane so that I wasn’t too close to the sides, but I did it. Once I crossed the bridge, I pulled over to the side of the road to really allow the success and lessons I’d gained from the experience to fully sink in.

I’ve heard it said that we should “feel the fear and do it anyway,” but that doesn’t always work for me, I don’t crave adrenalin. When I feel a fear or when I’m apprehensive about trying something new or uncomfortable, I borrow from the experiences of my past and apply them to the confidence I need to move forward.

Allow yourself the pleasure of reviewing your accomplishments. We are too quick to highlight our fears and perceived failures, which doesn’t strengthen our attitudes to be healthy and positive. Spend more time reviewing your achievements than you do the failures, this way your mind becomes accustomed to doing the things you desire. Learn from the past but don’t live there.

When we ask our children and grandchildren if they learned their lesson, ask what positives came from the experience and avoid highlighting the negative. Instead of asking them if they’re ever going to make that mistake again, instead, ask what they would do differently next time.

I now drive everywhere; no bridge or roadway will stop me from enjoying the ride. As a professional speaker, I continue to use the experience I gained from overcoming the fear I had the very first time I stood up before an audience of ten people. Overcoming that fear led me to the incredible joy of speaking to an audience of 3500.

Borrow from your past and invest in yourself to see the world in the way you desire and live the life of your dreams.