SAVAGE Entrepreneur Podcast

REGRET is the Worst Word in the English Language | Savage Sunrise

Mike Savage

Join me as I delve into the power of overcoming regret and embracing a life of fulfillment in this candid episode of Savage Sunrise.  

This episode is a heartfelt exploration of the fear and uncertainty that often hold us back from pursuing our dreams. 

Discover the lessons I learned on my journey as a keynote speaker in Cambodia and how stepping outside our comfort zones can lead to remarkable growth. 

Gain valuable insights on conquering fear, taking risks, and finding the courage to create real change.

Mike:

A few years ago, I received an invitation that kind of Rocked my world. I was offered a chance to be the keynote speaker at a national convention in Cambodia. Now, the sheer magnitude of this opportunity blew my mind. Prior to this, my biggest audience was a humble gathering of about 75 people. At church, but now a global organization in a crowd of over a thousand entrepreneurs on the other side of the world were asking me to deliver a wow experience. Now I have to admit, even though this was a well paid offer, I was really on the fence. About accepting it, but the next morning when I was shaving, I looked into the mirror and did what I often do and had a conversation with myself. I asked, is this. The easier road is a yes or a no easier. Now I've been around long enough to know that nothing great in life comes easy. So for the most part, the decision was made. Now I trained and prepared for months in advance. Like I was heading to the Olympics hours upon hours of writing and practicing my speech front of the mirror, even though I felt super prepared. I vividly remember the moment immediately before I was introduced to come up on stage. My nerves were frayed. I'll tell you, my mouth was dry. My heart was pounding and I was sweating up a storm, but it was showtime. No holding back now, game on. Let's do this. Now, we've all felt the fear and nerves right before a high risk decision, a big event or an important life change. It may have been, investing in new employees we could not really afford yet, maybe it was buying inventory with no guarantee of sales or agreeing to an expensive marketing campaign with no certainty that we're going to get a return on our investment. Now, it could very well have been the day, we quit our job and told corporate America to screw. And. Took our life savings to start a company. I get it. We feel nervous or uneasy because we are stepping outside of our comfort zone. Your body is pushing back. Your heart is pounding. Your mind is racing. You're nervous. You're fearful. The question worth asking at this moment is, will I be disappointed in myself if I don't go through with this? Will I be letting myself or my team or my family down by turning back? I know it is very difficult. You have to jump into the future and imagine you are sitting At the table, reflecting on this, if you see yourself as regretful, wishing you had pushed through, then it's not an alignment issue. It's a matter of courage. Entrepreneurship is about risk when I think back on my journey and the countless conversations I've had over the past three decades. With entrepreneurs, the number one regret I hear most often is missing opportunities due to fear or uncertainty. Too many of us regret not taking the leap, usually due to fear of failure. Here's the thing. Sometimes life shoves you into the deep end, the kind of deep that challenges, not just your skills, but how you see yourself. It's like your soul goes. Holy shit, this is really... My life, the thing is, this is where the magic happened. This is where you got to rev up your engines, even if you feel like your gas tank is empty. It is about zipping past your fear and taking that leap. After I returned from my speech in Cambodia, which was based on reviews and feedback, a smashing success. I was having coffee with a good friend and a very polished entrepreneur and speaker, a woman who seemed to have ironed out all the creases of her life with grace and dignity. Now we talked about the cocktail of emotions we experienced when taking risks. We talked about how it feels when you're teetering on the edge of the 40 foot cliff, getting ready to jump in to the quarry below. When the fear is thunderous and your heart is pounding, ready to jump out of your chest are you going to fly? Or are you going to tumble the question to ask yourself? Will I look back at this moment and should I have taken the plunge? I've often said that I think the most painful word in the English language is without a doubt regret. Here's some wisdom some guidance that I received from one of my mentors. And this is a guy I followed throughout most of my career, Jim Rohn. He said, there is the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Choose your pain. It's like choosing between going for a workout that will fill you with energy and a feeling of accomplishment or skipping it and having a beer with your buddies. Being an entrepreneur means you've got to dance with discomfort sometimes, but guess what? Here's the good news. You get to choose the music you dance to. You get to pick the kind of discomfort that either molds you into greatness or leaves you in a limbo of what ifs. Sometimes when we're under those blinding spotlights. Should I take a left or should I take a right at the fork? Should I take the slow, meandering, easy downhill or the steep and treacherous climb up? It is too often we confuse discomfort for a do not enter sign. We think, oh boy, this is lonely, this is shaky, and what if I crash? But really, what these emotions are most often the starting point of something absolutely amazing. Now, let's be real about the journey of building a company. You'll never truly be ready for the big stuff. But therein lies the secret sauce, right? Successful entrepreneurs will wade through the murky waters convinced that they will come out on the other side. Discomfort is not life slamming the door in your face. It's life daring you to kick the damn door down. Life's looking you in the eye and saying,“SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!”. you have the courage, you have the heart and you have an open road ahead and you must not let fear and inaction win. So hop on your bike, blaze new trails and remember, real change rarely if ever occurs in your comfort zone.