How To Beat FLS – (Failure to Launch Syndrome)

Yep, you JUST might have FLS or Failure to Launch Syndrome.  So what if it’s not an officially recognized diagnosis!  It’s real!  I know it’s real and YOU know it’s real.  The reason you know it’s real is because you either have, know someone who has it or have seen it in action.  Sometimes you look at a product that has hit the market or something that makes someone famous and your response is, “well, GEEZ, what’s so doggone special about that?”

Well, what’s special about it is that the person that put it out there didn’t have FLS.  They just decided that they were going to put it out there no matter what people think.  Here’s what shows like Shark Tank and American Idol have taught me.  There are some of us that will sit back and laugh at the audacity, fearlessness or seeming ignorance of someone who will just do something that they have no talent for or no business doing.  But, the flip side is that the people that are doing these things have something that we all admire deep down…go ahead and admit it, you ADMIRE William Hung and all of the people that just put it out there without fear and without worrying about FLS.  I KNOW I do!

So, if you’re ready to admit that you might have just a bit of FLS, then let’s look quickly at some ways to beat this beast.

1.  Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks
I believe it was Eleanor Roosevelt who is credited with saying “You would wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they actually do.” The honest truth is that we give so much credit to the thoughts of others with relation to OUR actions that we end up giving power to something which may not even exist. More often than not, people are NOT trying to stop you and could care less about what you are doing. So, stop making up stories in your own brain. Yes, STOP!!

2. Stop trying to get it right
OK, OK, OK. I’m SO guilty of this. I’ve been gifted with a great idea while I’m in the shower (yes, that’s my thinking place. If I only have ONE idea this week, then you probably shouldn’t stand too close) and then I go start putting all of the technology together, the code, the work and before you know it, weeks, days and months have passed because I’m trying to get it right, trying to make sure that it says the right thing and that people will actually pay attention to it. Guess what? Perfection is a BIG symptom of FLS. If you feel yourself trying to be perfect, then you have a HUGE bout of FLS coming on. Your best defense against this is to STOP trying to be perfect as soon as possible. The longer that you try to be perfect, the harder it can be to beat. STOP IT NOW!!

3. Stop being afraid to fail
You will fail. Everybody does. It happens all the time. Every day. All day. Multiple times. It’ll happen to you too. Stop trying to avoid it. Just STOP!

4. Stop going after it without a plan
Yes. Going after something willy nilly never works. It just doesn’t. There’s got to be a plan. Now, the plan doesn’t have to make sense to everyone else. There just has to be one. Oh, and don’t get stuck in the plan mode either. That’s another big symptom.

5. Stop stopping
You have this great idea, you work feverishly to get it moving and then you hit a bump and you STOP. That’s like deciding to run across the road to beat traffic and then getting to the middle of the road and stopping. Unless the road is in an abandoned part of town, that will get you HIT more often than not. Create the idea. Determine your next checkpoint and then don’t stop until you get there.

FLS is one of the biggest killers of business today. You should do your part to STOP it.

What are you going to do to battle FLS today? Leave your answer in the comments.

P.S. – Speaking of launching, my partner and I are launching Rock Your Biz Academy on April 1st. We’ve got some webinars coming up this month to share more info about it but you can simply start the process by signing up here.