Tag Archives: fear

The Scariest Moment

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“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

-Stephen King, American Contemporary Horror Author

Image from themostimportantnews.com

Image from themostimportantnews.com

Take a minute to consider the scariest moments in your life. Things that might come to mind are:

  • Public Speaking
  • A really fast roller coaster ride
  • Skydiving
  • Getting a new job that requires skills you do not have
  • Writing your first book or starting your first business
  • Resigning from a stable job to transition into a new career

Experience all the sensations we associate with fear: cold sweats, shakes, rubbery legs, and your heart pounding in your chest.  How often do you stop and retreat? How often do find the courage to move forward?

EXERCISE:

I’d like you to try being courageous for just 20 seconds when you experience scary moments. When you feel fear welling up, tell yourself “I can be brave for 20 seconds,” or “I can handle that for 20 seconds.”  Before long, you will discover the exhilaration and excitement of getting past the barrier of fear we all experience.

Start today, and commit to developing a 20-second courage habit every day this week, and beyond.

“If it scares you, it may be…”

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“If it scares you, it may be a good thing to try.”

-Seth Godin, American Author

QC #803

As I examine my own life and identify its highlights, I realize that many of them involved overcoming a fear in order to achieve some form of breakthrough. Among them are:

  • Starting my first business at age eleven!
  • Risking rejecting in applying to a highly competitive high school.
  • The “What Ifs” of resigning from a secure yet unsatisfying Fortune 500 career to enter the coaching profession when it was in its infancy.
  • The fear of judgement as I began speaking to increasingly large groups of people.
  • Risking potential criticism and judgement in writing and publishing my own blog and book.

EXERCISE:

Examine the things that have scared you over the years, and look at what scares you today. Where would giving some of these things a try help you overcome the fears and bring you even greater rewards and life satisfaction?

“Fear doesn’t prevent death…”

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“Fear doesn’t prevent death, but it certainly prevents life.”

—Darren Hardy, Publisher of Success Magazine

Photo from Flickr by Juan Pablo Gonzalez

Photo from Flickr by Juan Pablo Gonzalez

Many years ago, I attended a personal development seminar with about 150 people where the presenter asked the participants why most people get up in the morning. Following a variety of expected responses such as “to go to work and make a living,” he gave his own answer.

He said that most people get up in the morning because they did not die in their sleep.

The entire audience was shocked.

His perspective was that a majority of people navigate through their days a bit robotically without any level of excitement, vitality, or enthusiasm.

Fear, he suggested, was a primary reason many of us lower our sights and play it safe. Rather than not being dead, he asked us to look at the question: What does it mean to be fully alive?

EXERCISE:

In what way will you overcome a fear you may have by summoning the courage to be fully alive today?

“Do one thing each day that scares you.”

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“Do one thing each day that scares you.”

—Eleanor Roosevelt, longest-serving First Lady of the United States

Photo from Flickr by Nikki Collett

Photo from Flickr by Nikki Collett

I’m not a big fan of being scared. I don’t care for heights, roller coasters are not on my list of fun activities, and I’m unlikely to go to scary movies. Why are such activities so popular with many people?

Facing my fears gives me a booster shot of “Aliveness.”  When I examine the fears I held as I entered and pursued my career in coaching, these things happened:

  • I resigned from the stability of a Fortune 500 Company, without a salary to support myself, my wife, and my two young children.
  • I spent three months networking and reaching out to people I did not know, with no tangible results.
  • I gave many talks and speeches (public speaking is one of most people’s fears) to numerous groups to create awareness of my services.
  • I tapped into savings to secure an office instead of working from home to save money.

EXERCISE:

What one thing will you do today that scares you and will help you achieve an authentic goal and fulfill more of your highest potential?

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway

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“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.”

-John Wayne, American film actor, director, and producer

Photo from Flickr by Insomniacurredhere

Photo from Flickr by Insomniacurredhere

Perhaps no movie star epitomizes strength and courage more than John Wayne. Some of his most famous films, in a career that produced 142 pictures, were Stagecoach, Fort Apache, Sands of Iwo Jima, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, and True Grit.

EXERCISE

What one or two current issues or challenges are you facing that require you to summon the courage, saddle up, and do what needs to be done?

 

Forget to be Afraid

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“Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.”

–Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady of the USA

Image from Pinterest

My journey into the coaching profession is definitely an example of getting so wrapped up in something I almost forgot to be afraid.

At the ripe old age of 35, I threw caution to the wind and left a 12-year career with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company to sign up for the job of “coach” with:

1. No salary (You ate what you killed!)
2. No benefits
3. No coaching clients
4. No general agreement about or awareness of the profession – it was truly in its infancy
5. A wife and two young children, plus a considerable mortgage
6. Modest savings, with about 6 months of living expenses

In spite of these factors, I found myself enthusiastic and excited to partner with people and help them achieve breakthroughs in their personal and professional life – just as Olympic athletes work with coaches to achieve their full potential.

Exercise:

What can you be so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid?

Our doubts are traitors

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“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”

—William Shakespeare, playwright

image from www.huffingtonpost.ca

I had a hard time reading Shakespeare in high school – I just didn’t fully get it. Maybe it was my impatience or perhaps I can blame my English teacher!

For me, this quote is about how fear stops just about all of us in our tracks. Perhaps if we really, really focus on the good we wish to do, then we will find that secret life lever that will have us try, leap, and attempt, in spite of this fear.

Exercise:

Where is fear keeping you from the good you might do?

Where can you find the courage to overcome this fear and make the attempt?