In the movie “Mongol”, Temujin faced his greatest rival, Jamukha, in their final epic battle. Temujin’s army was drastically outnumbered, yet they crushed their enemies in the battle. A thunderstorm gave them the improbable victory.

You see, all Mongols were afraid of the thunder, but Temudjin was not. He charged forward when all others were seeking shelter behind their shield. Their men saw his fearlessness in the midst of the storm. As a result, they overcame their own fear, and scattered their enemies.

Why was Temudjin able to be fearless in the thunderstorm? In the movie, he said, “I had no place to hide from the thunder, so I wasn’t afraid anymore.”

Years before the epic battle, he was defeated, enslaved, and imprisoned in an unsheltered prison cell for months. He had no place to hide from the thunder. That was when he learnt how to be unafraid anymore.

I think about our entrepreneurial journeys. Most of us are instinctively afraid of not having a fixed income or a well-defined job scope. Like how the Mongols were afraid of the thunder. I am one of this group. It was just so natural and no one really ask, where do the fear come from? Is it rational?

Perhaps, when we are thrusted into our entrepreneurship journey, we are like how Temudjin was imprisoned in the unsheltered prison cell. It might appear to the world as the last place to be in, but we are slowly developing our survival instinct.

To be unafraid of the thunder, because we have no place to hide from it.

To be unafraid of not having a paycheck.

To be unafraid of not having a title.

To be unafraid of not being able to tell your family how much you’ll be earning next year.

To have no office to report to every weekday morning.

One day, when we are no longer afraid anymore, we can step up and inspire others, to soldier on in life, even without a fixed job, title or an office desk.

There is great power, simply in being unafraid.