Turning Fear Into Action, Progress, and Results

Feelings of fear are common when you want to create change, design a new chapter of life, or set a new goal for yourself.

Often, our instinct is to retreat from fear as a form of self protection. This is fine if you are face to face with a tiger, but retreating from fear when it comes to things you want to move toward in your life, work, or business is a problem as it holds you back and keeps you stuck.

Fear isn’t a directive to back off. But that is often how we treat it. Feelings of fear are data. It’s information. It is there to help you assess a situation, find ways to make it safe, and guide your next steps. Fear becomes a useful resource and your friend when you approach it that way.

It might seem strange to call fear your friend, but when you see it as information and data to protect you it can be a powerful force to set yourself up to succeed. It enables you to harness its underlying message to help you get into action, create progress, and move closer to the outcomes you want to achieve.  

Here are a few steps to help you get started with that process:

Step 1: Choose to see fear just as data and information. What is it telling you? Identify what is underneath the fear. What is the source? Get clear on what the issue is.

Step 2: What do you need to put in place for it to BE and FEEL safe to move forward? Address what your feelings of fear are telling you. What do you need to put in place or deal with?

Step 3: What is the absolute worst case scenario? What would you do if that happened? What can you proactively put in place to reduce or eliminate the risk of that happening? Knowing this helps reduce feelings of fear because it makes you feel in the driving seat.     

Step 4: Create a safety net. Create contingency plans. What can you put in place to feel like you have a safety net?

Step 5: What is the best thing that could happen? Is that worth fighting for? Focus on your ideal outcome. Is it better to move forward, even if it doesn’t work out than spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been or having regret that you didn’t go for it? Don’t lose sight of the good things on the other side of fear. They can fuel you to move forward. 

Step 6: What can you put in place to set yourself up to succeed?

Step 7: Foster courage because courage is what enables you to step forward in the face of fear.

The bottom line:

Fear is a natural and healthy part of being human. It is there to protect you. It isn’t a bad thing. Treat it as a useful and helpful resource. Because it is.