This week as a business coach team we read Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill, which if you haven’t read I would 100% recommend this book. It has so many knowledge bombs it would be hard to pick one. In this book, Napoleon Hill is interviewing the Devil. An overarching theme of this book is that the Devil works through fear. He plants thoughts, seeds of fear in our minds and it causes them to dwell on the negative. If you are constantly living in fear of death and poverty there will be little time for you to work on becoming better and reaching your goals. The Devil explains that he is not a red demon with a spiked tail but rather he is that negative energy.
As we discussed this book as a business coach team Clay related the topic of living fearlessly to one of his favorite pictures. In this picture, there is a ship sailing straight for a waterfall. He says he loves it because it reminds him that life is short and he could die at any moment, so why to be afraid. He knows he is living his life in a way that if he were to die tomorrow he would have absolutely zero regrets. This is so powerful because it gives zero space for the Devil to influence his life. If you don’t fear death, poverty, sickness, etc… the Devil cannot plant those negative seeds. Therefore allowing positive thoughts to dictate your life.
The Devil explains that he is not a red demon with a spiked tail but rather he is that negative energy.
As I was thinking of how to best apply this concept of living fearlessly to my own life, I thought about my role as a business coach. When business coaching clients it is often easier to just let deadlines slip by without calling them out or bringing attention to the fact that if these homework items are not completed it will hurt their business. It is easier for me to tell them what they want to hear and not have a confrontational conversation. However, at the end of the day, it is not my job to tiptoe around feelings and accept excuses. It is my job to help clients grow and reach their own goals. That will not happen by fearfully coaching them.
Thinking back to my pre-Thrive days I remember being afraid to ask a question, afraid to argue my case or to be bold. This is something that I have learned to do, and continue to learn to do, by watching Clay and Jonathan Kelly and listening to how they handle life. Most recently I was able to be bold and stand up to our apartment managers. As I went to the office to talk with them about breaking a lease early (because Ben and I bought a house) I knew it would be a confrontational conversation. I knew they would try and slip in all sorts of fees. Because I approached that conversation without fear I was able to avoid paying $650 of fake fees! To live without fear is to live a positive life. That does not mean that we have to be delusionally optimistic or unrealistic but it means that we remain in control of our own thoughts. We control our lives we are intentional about living, we do not just drift through allowing life to happen to us.
