Best-Case Scenario Planning
I used to think that my fears would forever hold me back from the life I was made for. I believed that if I couldn’t get rid of all my fears, it wouldn’t really matter what my dreams were…because they would always be held captive to everything I was afraid of.
But what if you and I don’t have to get rid of every single fear in order to move forward towards the vision that keeps us awake at night, due to the sheer excitement of what we’re imagining for the future?
I do think it’s important that we have way more faith than fear when we’re pursuing something that’s beyond where we’ve been so far. At the same time, I find it helpful to allow myself a couple of minutes to imagine the worst. What if this fails? What if no one wants to publish this book? What if our church purchases this building, but we can’t pay for it at some point? What if we shouldn’t have moved our daughter to the new public school she just began? Here are the kinds of answers I give myself to the questions I just referenced: If no one wants to publish this book, I know this content will still help people - even if I deliver it through a different medium than a book. Our church can sell the building or we can get creative in generating a new revenue stream if things get tight. Shauna and I can always send Kavita back to the small, private school she used to attend.
I think it’s good to limit worst-case scenario thinking to just a few minutes. Now I want to introduce you to the practice of best-case scenario planning.
1. What if this venture goes way beyond anything you can imagine? Instead of imagining things failing, take a few moments and visualize what massive success could look like. Just for fun, imagine yourself giving a speech where you’re being recognized as someone who caught the attention of the whole world.
2. Who all would be impacted by this if it goes really well? This question shifts how your success would make you feel to how it would make other people feel. Whose life would be better if you accomplish the vision? Who all could you hire or bless in some way if you were to succeed? Picture someone receiving the fruit of your work and sending you a thank-you card for all of the ways you’ve helped them.
3. What will I regret if I don’t go for it? Aren’t you tired of playing the “what if” game with your life? How many more months are going to go by without you acting on the dream that was deposited into your heart? I don’t want to sound too drastic, but you aren’t going to live forever. How can you act this week so that another week doesn’t go by that causes you to experience the pain of regret once again?
I haven’t gotten rid of all my fears, but I’ve started living with an overarching fear for my life: I’m afraid of living my entire life without pursuing the initiatives I’ve been put on this earth to achieve. It would have been so easy to let my fears keep me from starting a church in downtown San Francisco. It would have been so comfortable to not work on a book proposal and submit it to the publisher. Even this week, I was asked to consider taking a job that would move our family to a city that seems like it would be a slower pace than the pace I have while living in San Francisco.
But I can’t imagine what I and the people I love most will miss out on if I don’t keep pursuing the things that God has put on my heart. How about you? If you don’t move forward in spite of your fears, what will you have to forfeit?
In Bring It Out I share how I got over my fears and how you can too. If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, I think it’s the best $20 you can spend this week. And if you have it but a close friend doesn’t, I still think it’s the best $20 you can spend this week 🙂.
I would love for you to email me (ben@benpilgreen.com) the answer to this question: What would you be going after in this season if you no longer allowed fear to hold you back?
