It was a bright sunny day, just after our long winter season. We decided to take an adventure and kayak down the Sturgeon River. The same steps that I am going to give you are the same steps that we took that day as we approached this adventure.
But, like it is with all our adventures, there is fear and anxiety about what may happen. As we approached a challenging situation, things moved quickly, and it was at that moment, I found myself pinned under a log, unsure if I was going to see the light of another sun. It confirmed my commitment to live my life in spite of the feeling of fear.
Fear is defined as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat.” Courage is defined as “the ability to do something that frightens one” or “strength in the face of pain or grief.”
These create the opposites sides of living in a state of action or living in a state of inactions. It has been defined as either proactive versus reactive. Each of us chooses to live in one or the other.
When you choose to act, it will change your life, you’ll absolutely change the way you do your business. It will change the way you live the change and the way you interact with your family, your friends, your community, it will change everything.
Mastering fear is a determination to act while feeling anxiety.
If we allow fear to paralyze us, we will find that fear will quickly take all the space you give it. Forcing us to give up even more of our life over to its evil of isolation. It will begin to consume every part of our lives.
Here are some of the things that cause fear.
A loss of stability, a loss of income, a loss of what is normal in our lives. Lately, we have been hearing about the “new normal”, we are afraid that things are not going to go back to normal, or things are not going to go back to the way they were.
If we give in to the fear, it will continue to rule our lives, and it will continue to make us even more afraid. It caused us to cower into a corner choosing to skip out on the great things about life.
So the action, the courage of being able to walk through that fear is as simple as the ability to take that first step. Here is the biggest challenge — if we allow the giant to leave us paralyzed, we’re not going to act. Then, at that time, fear will drive us into that isolation.
Four-Step Action Plan
1. Identify the thing that is making you afraid.
2. Create a plan.
3. Implement the plan, it is all about the action.
4. Adapt to the changing environment.
Breaking this down. Begin by identifying the fear, and embracing and moving through it to get to the other side as a better person. Stronger than we were before moving through the fear.
Identify and recognize the dangers.
As I’m standing there on the banks of the Sturgeon River, I felt the anxiety start to build. The water was a lot higher, moving a lot faster than I had ever seen before. It was at this moment that I realized the fear was mounting within my soul. In the back of my mind, I could hear the voices of doubt and regret. There were also words of encouragement, the call to fulfill a dream and live a life of greatness.
So by identifying, the fact that I was anxious and that that fear was real, it allowed me to put that into a box as a way to be able to analyze and start creating the plan. It allowed me to be able to move forward in spite of the unknown.
Create Your Plan
Creating a plan is based on gathering the information needed to make a good decision. This applies to both our personal and business interests. We gather that information to be able to create our plan. Careful to choose the information with which we listen and follow, it is critical to guard those sources.
As you lay out your plan be sure to consider the environment, the equipment, and the time needed to accomplish your objective. It is the plan that gives the confidence to move forward in spite of the fear.
You have as much certainty as you can plan for.
As we look at our next step, there’s always going to be some level of risk, uncertainty, and instability. Things that you can control but there are also things that are outside of your control. While you creating the plan to move forward, there is a level of risk that you must be willing to accept.
Implement the plan, it is all about the action.
It all comes down to this, you must take the next right step. So often, we look at our future and we start worrying about the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next year. The only thing that we can do in order to embrace and work through this challenge of fear is to act on our plan.
There is really nothing more powerful than Action. Action is the only way to overcome and be conquers in life. Without the action, the thing we fear becomes larger than life and will continue to paralyze us, rendering us useless in our life.
Adapt to the changing environment.
Throughout history, man has made plans and attempted to control the results. Yet, the power to control all our results still remains outside any of the scope that man has been able to accomplish. The environment, society, and commerce are all circumstances that will change as we progress through life.
It is our responsibility to adapt to the changing environment.
Never be afraid of adapting but adapt based on the data that the situations are giving. Some of the things that need to change may happen quickly, this will require leaders to make decisions with limited data but trust your gut, you have put in the work, don’t doubt your ability.
Here is the lesson: When we are required to adapt things will happen faster than we are able to react, taking the moment to pause will give us the information we need to take the next right step. This literally saved my life.
Paul Perino makes a great statement about fear “I believe everyone has the ability to overcome their fear, with a bit of direction and a positive push.”
WOW, Factor. I love this statement because it’s so true. I also believe the exact same thing with a little bit of a positive push in the right direction, anybody can overcome their fear.
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Photo Credit: @kalvisuals on Unsplash