CEO | Founder | Motivational + Keynote Speaker | Serial Entrepreneur | Author | Endurance Athlete
The greatest gift anybody can give themselves is getting over the fear of being embarrassed. That's super liberating. And I discovered that at a young age. I don't know what triggered it, but I realized that, like, I'm okay being embarrassed.
Agree 1000%! Be silly. Have fun. Let others laugh at you! It’s not only disarming, but it’s very endearing to people when you can have fun laughing at yourself.
Joe Huff
1mo
Great advice Jesse Itzler. It's so hard to overcome the irrational fear we have around failure when the most of the time the worst thing that will happen is...we will be embarrassed. When I was in my twenties, I wanted to try stand up comedy but I was terrified. I got over my fear enough to get on a stage and actually did pretty well. I continued performing for a few years off and on and had been lucky to never totally bomb but I was always very nervous and afraid of not doing well. Then, one night at the biggest event I ever performed that moment came and I TOTALLY bombed. Like, crickets, bombed. And afterwards, the funny thing was, it made me realize how crazy I had been to be so nervous and afraid because when I thought about it, I realized, I had gotten up on that stage and tried, so I had nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. It just didn't work that time. It was quite a liberating moment.
Roxy Garrity
1mo
This is why I believe everyone, especially entrepreneurs, should take an improv class. It helped me overcome my fear of embarrassment in a supportive and accepting environment.
The EQ Project
1mo
There is so much good to this post Jesse. This makes us think of team environments, workplace culture and psychological safety. When we all feel “okay being embarrassed” think of the progress, innovations and fun that will follow!
Lewis Entwisle
1mo
And the only way to get over it is to put yourself in embarrassing situations, over and over again. Once you associate it to something positive (like putting yourself out there and getting out your comfort zone) you’ll be okay with it.
Tyler Nix
1mo
Inadvertently triggered this when I decided to start shaving my head due to going bald. One of the BEST decisions I have ever made
Remembering Grace is so critical to this. Also, something I teach my new advisors is to find people (friends, partners, clients) that gravitate to who you are. Not everyone will, and you have to be okay with that, but express your values and you’ll find the people that find your values compelling.
Agreed. I have always been the class clown. #getRdone
I help women pursue their purpose.
1moI remember reading about this man who challenged himself to do something daring everyday for 60 days or something similar such as asking people to do things out of the ordinary for him to see what kind of responses he would encounter. I was inspired by him and shared this with my kids (who were young at the time). We were visiting my folks out of town and the kids were looking to find an outdoor activity. I piled them in the van drove around my parents neighborhood until we came across a house with a basketball net in front but we did not see any kids home. We knocked on the door, only to hear the dog bark. A minute later the mom and kids drive up asking what we were doing in there front yard. "Oh, just curious to see if we could play some basketball here?", I ask sort of oddly. The young boy and his sister jump out of the car, eagerly wanting to play. The mother shares with me the kids' father is no longer in the picture and it was such a gift we stopped to play. My kids were embarrassed that I stopped at this random house but those kids we played basketball with were thankful.