How long has it been since you did something which really scared you?
And I’m talking about the kind of sweaty palms, heart rate boosted fear here.
I can give you my answer: it was a couple of days ago when I was learning how to ‘drop in’ on my skateboard for the first time.
This is where you stand on your board at the top of the ramp, and drop down to the bottom. The pros make it look easy, but I’ve been trying to work myself up to this for about a year now.
This weekend I finally did it – but I don’t think I’d have been able to without the help of a little mantra which Alison Bradford from www.alisonbradford.com taught me on her Business Growth Masterplan course last year:
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
I suppose it’s a version of exposure therapy, but it’s one that I find really validates your feelings while you’re forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to.
So I stood on top of that ramp, felt the fear, and slammed my foot down…
…and fell off.
But it didn’t hurt, the world didn’t end, so I got back on my board and tried again.
For about an hour, I kept slamming my foot onto my skateboard until the fear really didn’t seem so bad.
And it’s great to remember as a business owner as well, because we all have fears which if we let them would hold us back.
It’s not something I admit very often, but I used to have massive anxiety about making phone calls, and it’s still not something I’m 100% comfortable with.
But with feel the fear and do it anyway, you acknowledge your emotions and then push through it.
And every time it gets a bit easier, and it’s a bit less of a battle to press the call button.
Although I think I’m still some way from moving a spider out of the bath by myself…
