Be fearless. Don’t let your fears stop you.

“Am I enough?”

“Am I living up to my potential?”

These are the questions we ask ourselves every day. If the answer is “no,” why aren’t we doing more? Although we are constantly questioning ourselves daily regarding our own deficits and limitations, why aren’t we doing something about it? My explanation is we are afraid. We are afraid of being afraid.  We don’t step out of our comfort zone enough.  My business advice to students is this: Do not let your fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of financial burden and other fears hinder you from your pursuits.

The question we should ask ourselves is “What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”

Rodrigo Silva, an undergraduate studying finance, jokes and states “I would walk up to Elon Musk and tell him ‘I’m in charge now.'”

Despite the jokes, he says he desires to run his own company one day. His underlying fear is shown through his following statement. “But I know I lack the knowledge to.”

My belief is that he most definitely has the capability to run a company, so I asked him what his going to do now to gain that knowledge.

“I would read business and economic books aside from going to school. I’d like to read books written by industry and business leaders,” he said. I thought this was outstanding because the questions got him thinking and working toward his goal.

If we weren’t afraid, we wouldn’t regret not pursuing what we were always meant to pursue. People aren’t born fearful or fearless. It’s an active choice. Choice is power. We have the ability to choose who we want to become. So don’t be afraid.

Personally, as a student majoring in four disciplines: honors management, marketing, Chinese, and international studies, I have learned to be fearless to a certain extent. Yet I believe I have so much more I can do and still become. With the combination of my knowledge and skills from these fields of study, I have developed my own higher purpose.  My higher purpose is to serve others. It does not matter whether it be in a specific industry, a specific place or a specific time, the importance is that I serve. My ultimate pursuit is to serve the underrepresented, destitute communities anywhere.  That’s what I would do if I wasn’t afraid. I want to be a change agent in this world.

That’s my purpose. What is yours? What would you do if you weren’t afraid?