Do It Afraid!
“Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it is learning how to move forward in the presence of fear.”
Do you remember a time in your youth or adult years when you had to step out and face an unknown result? Think about the first time you gave a speech in school, or when you had to make your first sales call or when you decided to ride the highest roller coaster. What emotions come up as you remember them? You probably did them afraid. Most likely you have been doing things afraid a long time, but now I want to challenge you to ask yourself: Am I using it to help me or is it keeping me stuck in fear?
I just finished Joyce Meyer’s book “Do It Afraid.” When I heard her speak about the book, I knew it was speaking to me. Almost every day I choose to make a conscious effort to step out and “do it afraid.” How about you?
“Fear is your friend,” says Tim Ferriss in his TED talk. “Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do. More often than not it shows you exactly what you should do. And the best results that I’ve had in life, the most enjoyable times, have all been from asking a simple question: What’s the worst that can happen?”
We must do things afraid. If you don’t, you will miss an opportunity to learn and grow, to move forward in your professional career, to mend relationships and so on. Remember, fear if allowed to keep you stuck and afraid, will be a bully. It will tell you what to do and when to obey it. Use fear to push you forward, face the unknown, but don’t give up your power.
STEP BY STEP
The most effective, scientific approach to leaning into fear is to systematically expose yourself to the thing that scares you. Start small and over time, step by step will you embrace change and challenges because you won’t be held back by fear, but propelled forward.
Alcoholics Anonymous is known for their successful method of teaching alcoholics to face their addiction to alcohol one day at a time.
What is the first step? Lean into the potential of failing. What? What if people laugh at me? What if I don’t get the sale? What if I lose the relationship? No one said you were going to fail, but if you did, so what? How bad can that be? Stepping out into what fears you means you are taking back your power. By doing this, you reduce fear’s negative influence over you and diminish the lie of what you have to lose. Your brain doesn’t know the outcome of you taking the step. It only “thinks it knows the outcome.”
Here is a simple chart I put together to help clients in different areas of their life. For this topic, you can use this to help you get thoughts of fear, anxiety, perfectionism, worry, etc., out of your head and onto paper. It is a great visual tool!
REMEMBER HOW FAR YOU HAVE COME
There is another successful technique that I learned from the bible and I apply it to every area of my life. When the people in biblical times were facing hard decisions, giants, uncertainty, plagues and the waters of the Red Sea, they were always told to think about how far they have come. They were encouraged to CHOOSE to remember how God brought them through OTHER difficult times. It gave them the courage and confidence they needed to push through a current challenge. “If God brought us through that, He will bring us through this.”
THIS I KNOW: Take time today to remember how far you have come my friend. Think about how many times you stepped out into courage and saw positive results inwardly and outwardly. Don’t live a life of “I should’ve, I could’ve, I would’ve.” Life doesn’t bring us this far to let it all fall apart.
“Each time we face our fears, we gain strength, courage and confidence in the doing.” Theodore Roosevelt
“An individual develops courage by doing courageous acts.” Aristotle
YOU HAVE GOT THIS MY FRIEND! DO IT AFRAID!