Contrary to what people think – fear is no bad thing.
Our brains are designed in such a way that they’ll always try to keep us on the safest path. That path might be a nice normal 9-5 with a steady income, or it might be keeping our businesses exactly how they are and not uplevelling because it’s all working ok so why change things?
This happened to me earlier this year when I had a chance to stand on a stage in front of 300 people and deliver my message. My first thought was fear: “Don’t do it. Play it safe”. And in my head came all the reasons I didn’t really need to do it and all the things that could go wrong if I did – “I might forget what to say, my voice will go all shaky because of nerves, people won’t like it, I won’t look good on the stage, more visibility means more judgement…..” it all came flooding in.
Now? Now I am being booked up for speaking events everywhere. Do I still get nervous? Of course, but they are good nerves as my message is so much more important than my ego (which is here to keep us safe).
If you think about it, when your fear is bigger than your desire, you begin to doubt your capabilities and the fear stops you from taking the next steps towards your goals, dreams or desires. Out of all the emotions we have, fear and success are the biggest that clash; they don’t go hand in hand
When it comes to fear, we all have it – and we should have it – fear makes us survive. The difference is, if you make fear the LOUDEST voice in your head, it stops you from doing things.
The key is to feel the fear and then choose NOT to have it as the loudest voice. It’s OK to have fear, to realise that it’s there; to acknowledge it. But if you focus on the fear only it stops you from being successful. We can’t get rid of fear and so it’s OK that’s it there.
What we need to do is listen to the voice, the one that says you want things MORE than the fear. So you need to listen to something else, list out why you want the life/goals/desires you are looking to achieve.
There is something so very powerful, not only when you push past your fears, but when you do this as a collective and are held accountable. But when we want to grow and scale, we can’t stay safe. We can’t continue down the easy path. We need to take risks and do things we might not have done before.
Then we start to feel that fear – we hear in our heads all of the things that could go wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared all the time of something! But then I decided to just acknowledge that I was scared of doing it. And instead to listen to the other voices. The ones that said how amazing it would be to be able to impact 300 more people. How visibility leads to success in business and how it would help me grow as a person to do something that makes me uncomfortable.
So if you’re feeling afraid right now of something in your own life or business – maybe that there’s a chance it could fail, or you’re scared of what people might think of you if you become more visible, then I’d love you to explore pushing through it. Ask yourself whether you should let that fear win or if the benefits of doing the scary thing are just too good – and so it’s time to listen to a louder voice instead.
The one telling you to go for it.
Lisa x