You know that I LOVE to start my week with some positive words of wisdom:
Fear. It’s so easy to get stuck in it, to let it hold you back and keep you from being successful! I have been there many times in my life and I am sure you have also.
Fear holds us back from:
- Trying new things. It has holds us back from trying something new for lunch or starting a new hobby because we fear we would have a bad experience or fail. And so we stick to our usual routine and choices. It also keeps us from moving from our current job to a potential better job.
- Asking someone for the sale, what I call your “CTA” (call to action). Because we don’t want to risk being rejected or looking like a fool in the eyes of other people.
- Living our life’s full potential, the fear has held us in its grip and calmly explained to us that it would be best and most comfortable for us to stay where we are and to do nothing new. Many times we have sadly believed the fear and gotten ourselves stuck in a place where we honestly deep down, didn’t want to be.
The fears we have are based on how we think about things and how we feel about ourselves. Sometimes we don’t think that we can ever measure up to make a big move, and these destructive thought habits can create a lot of fear that is really unnecessary and damaging.
But there are ways to handle these habits when they pop up and to – over time – replace them with healthier habits.
So today I’d like to share with you the first of a few destructive and fear inducing thought habits and what to do instead of letting them roam free in your head.
Fear-Inducing Habit #1: You keep the fear foggy and undefined.
As long as your fear of doing something is foggy and undefined and just floating around in your head it will hold you back and often grow stronger with time.
What to do instead:
Ask yourself this question: what is the worst that could realistically happen? Don’t just take a second or two to answer it. Sit down with a pen and piece of paper. Take time to really think about it and to write out the realistic worst-case scenario.
This will:
- Bring clarity to what you truly fear.
- Defuse the fuzzy fears or disaster scenarios that may have been bouncing around in your mind.
- Help you to realize that you can often bounce back pretty quickly even if the worst-case scenario somehow becomes reality.
Next week, I will talk about the second fear-inducing habit: keeping your fear to yourself.
Carlos
