What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

I am writing a book, Fortune is in the Follow Up® that teaches 5 Power Strategies to Grow Your Business, and it has been quite a journey for me. The actually writing has not been hard, but there are all sorts of other tasks involved with this project that have pushed me past my comfort zone, big time.

Usually when faced with a challenge, I just push on through. This attitude has helped me move across the country with children several times, start new businesses, reinvent myself professionally and even give birth while living in a foreign country. But recently I found myself putting off contacting industry leaders for interviews and endorsements for my book.

What was holding me back?

At first I told myself that it was because I didn’t know how to use the technology to record the interviews. Pretty lame, wasn’t it? My publisher quickly taught me how to make the technology work and then I had to move onto the real excuse: I was afraid of being rejected. What if I asked, and they said no? After all, some of the people I was asking did not know me personally. And even the ones I had met, why should they agree to be in my book? Most were not familiar with my work, why would they say yes?

There is not much that gets me afraid professionally any more, but this was holding me back from getting my book done. And irony of irony, this was something I write extensively about in the book for the Power Strategies on Follow Up and Mindset.

Finding Inspiration

Then I attended last week’s Professional BusinessWomen of California’s http://www.pbwc.org annual conference. The theme of the conference was Connect, Explore, Inspire and it was inspiring—especially the keynotes speakers throughout the day. They had:

• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandbberg
• Author and contributing editor of Good Morning America Lee Woodruff
• US Congresswoman representing the 12th District of California Jackie Speier
• O, The Oprah Magazine columnist/political strategist Donna Brazile
• Author/speaker/advocate, Isabel Allende, and
• Emmy-Award Winning Actress, America Ferrera

Throughout the difference keynotes I heard questions and statements that I had heard before from other sources, but this time they were presented in such a way that the words had new meaning to me: “What would I do if I knew I could not fail?”, “What would I be doing if I was not afraid?”, “What stands between me and success?”, “If I don’t ask, I don’t get.”

And then it hit me, if I want to get this book done and include industry experts, I had to take a deep breath and just ask them. I had to accept that I was afraid. I had to accept that they might say no. I had to accept that this is what it means to feel fear and still persevere—something I talk about all the time.

And this is exactly what I did when I got home. I took a deep breath and sent the emails. Guess what happened? Six of the seven people I contacted said yes! And this led me back to the question I stared out with: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

One of the key elements for me was that I gave up the notion that rejection would be failure. Instead, rejection would just be rejection. It would mean finding alternatives and figuring out other solutions—both of which I know is possible.

So last week the answer to the question: “What would I do if I knew I could not fail” is: anything I want!