Master This One Fear to Skyrocket Your Growth

As human beings, we are wired to crave comfort and predictability.

As passionate entrepreneurs, however, we must go against this tendency and constantly expose ourselves to risk and uncertainty in pursuit of building our vision.

The very nature of taking a new idea and bringing it to life hurls us into the unknown, where we are constantly worried about what’s next, and how it will work out.  

All of this unpredictability freaks out our overly protective minds, so we experience all of the stress, doubt, and hesitation that comes with fear.

The good news is, this fear of the unknown can be mastered so that we can liberate ourselves from its paralyzing effects. So in this article, I am going to help you loosen the grip of fear so that you can spend less time freaking out and more time taking massive action while growing your business.

 

Fear Thinks It’s Your Friend

Thousands of years ago when we were cavemen and cavewomen, real danger was everywhere.

If you ventured off into a new place that wasn’t comfortable or familiar, you could get caught off guard and become some animal’s lunch. So in order to help keep us alive and dissuade us from doing anything risky, our brains began to associate the unknown with death and destruction.

Today, our brains still cling to this association between the unknown and death, so it’s natural that we experience fear and negative emotions when we do things that have an unpredictable outcome.

This mechanism protects us when a real danger could be present, like when fear chimes in to dissuade us from walking down a shady alley late at night. When it comes to our entrepreneurial growth and success, however, fear can smother us and sabotage our efforts when no real threat is looming.

So next time fear is preventing you from taking massive action that you feel is going to propel your business forward, calmly thank it for trying to protect you, and assure it that there is no life-threatening danger that awaits you—and then take action.

Fear Is Only a Suggestion to Settle

For most people, feeling fear is like hearing a tornado siren go off. They immediately begin thinking a certain set of thoughts, embodying a certain set of emotions, and completing a certain series of actions.

In actuality, fear is more of a suggestion than a declaration.

As I mentioned, it is simply a primal survival-mechanism being activated because your brain wants you to settle for the safety of your comfort zone.

Your success as an entrepreneur will grow exponentially if you can sense that fear without succumbing to it.

I teach all of my clients a simple sequence that liberates them from the side-effects of fear because using it allows you to spend more time taking action and less time sitting on the sidelines.

The second you can feel fear, acknowledge that it’s there, but see yourself as separate from it. Fear is only a sensation you experience, not a state of being that you have to embody.

See fear as a suggestion to settle for your comfort zone, politely decline it, and commit to taking an empowering action. Doing this will produce massive progress in a short period of time and will make you feel incredible in the process.

 

Flex the Courage Muscle

At first, acting in the face of fear will feel unnatural.

Since you are working against your brain’s self-preservation tactics, moving forward will seem strenuous and awkward, almost like driving with the parking brake on.

But just like any new skill, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

The more times you take action in spite of fear, the more automatic and efficient it becomes. The more you flex that courage muscle, the stronger it gets, and in a relatively short period of time, you are able to confidently overcome most of the things that used to scare you and stall your growth.

The most important thing to remember here is that, at first, taking action in the face of fear won’t feel good.

Thinking it’s doing you a favor by keeping you safe, your brain will throw all kinds of negative thoughts, feelings, and self-talk at you, so don’t freak out or lose heart if you experience some mental resistance the first few times you do it.

Remember: Security Is an Illusion

One crucial lesson I teach every client is that the idea that  ‘security’ is really an illusion. And as a result, putting your dreams on hold to play it safe doesn’t really make sense.

We are living on a rock that is flying through space around a molten-hot ball of radioactive fire that is susceptible to surface explosions and electromagnetic storms.

All too often, markets shift, economies crash, disasters level cities, and paradigms totally shift. In a world prone to unpredictability, it simply doesn’t make sense to settle for safe when security can’t actually be guaranteed.

I am not reminding you of this to be a doomsday downer. I am simply reminding you that the very thing your brain is trying to achieve through fear can’t even be truly and permanently obtained, so why let it limit your growth and happiness?

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Julian Rosen is a writer, speaker and coach who specializes in helping stressed-out entrepreneurs to build thriving businesses. Through his revolutionary coaching platform, The Fearless Life Project, Julian helps entrepreneurs to optimize their clarity and performance while counteracting effects of stress and anxiety so that they can grow and scale with confidence. As a business owner with anxiety, Julian is committed to connecting with and supporting other entrepreneurs who are passionate about building their bold vision in a powerful and fulfilling way.