Author Of Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway Sadly Passes Away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I found out that Susan Jeffers author of several self help books and the seminal bestseller Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway passed away. Reading the email caused me to pause in my day and reflect on the impact Susan had on my life. In real life we never met but we met at a poignant time in my life on the page. What she wrote and shared in her book Feel the fear and do it anyway had a significant impact on helping me get through a difficult place at the time. If you’re reading this blog page you could probably write your life story through a history of the books you’ve read at different times. Like music, books can remind us in an instant of where we were at certain moments on our life’s journey.

In my case I was 26 years old, heavily pregnant with my first and only child. I was browsing (do you remember a time when we used to browse in bookshops) in my local bookshop in Brixton when I came across her book. My favourite section has always been the self-help section and as soon as I saw the title ‘Feel The Fear And Do it Anyway’ I grabbed the last copy from the shelf. A quick skim read of the first few pages and I knew the book was going home with me. It was love at first sight.

Like new love I couldn’t wait and started eagerly reading on the bus home. That was back in 1988. The book is still in my collection. And finding it back in 1988 was just what I needed for where I was on my personal and professional journey. I know ‘Feel The Fear And Do it Anyway’ helped millions of people globally and the title became a mantra in the publishing world and the world of leadership and management.

I’ll leave you with this question on this rainy and dark Tuesday morning, “If you knew fear was a friend in disguise, what would you feel the fear and do anyway?

Susan will be missed.

Susan Jeffers

1938-2012