Is fear holding you back from your dream life? Often, fear can consume us and keep us from moving forward. Check out these 9 steps to help you overcome fear and confidently tackle any goal in your life!
Introduction
Are you ready to finally conquer your fears and tackle your goals? Instead of letting our fears keep us at a standstill, it’s important for us to make friends with our fears and instead take courageous action.
The sooner we do that, the sooner we can work towards our goal and get closer to achieving what we desire!
How to Conquer our Fear
One of the most common fears in the world is the fear of failure.
Do you resonate?
Fortunately, all fears are learned. No one is born with fears. Just think about babies who are fearless, until the moment they’re taught about what is unsafe.
All fears that we possess have been conditioned over time, usually to protect us and keep us safe.
Therefore, fears can be unlearned if we work on our mindset repeatedly with regard to fear, until it goes away permanently.
Remember, it all begins in our minds. This is why it’s so important to be conscious of what thoughts enter.
Everything begins with a THOUGHT.
Which turns into a BELIEF.
Which turns into a BEHAVIOUR.
Which becomes your LIFE.
If our thoughts are fear-based, the result would be a life consumed by fears. Alternatively, if we had more courageous and empowering thoughts, we’d be more confident and comfortable taking risks and scary actions.
9 Steps to Overcome Any Fear
- Acknowledge that the fear exists
- Flip the perspective
- Set goals to overcome the fear
- Take small actions
- Stay in your own lane
- Create over consume
- Stop overthinking
- Remember that failure is only feedback
- Stretch yourself
1. Acknowledge that the fear exists
It starts by finding the origin.
Dig deeper and ask yourself:
- Where is the fear coming from?
- Is it even real?
- Is it possibly made up?
- Is it actually as scary as I’ve made it to be?
It’s important to take a step back and analyze if the fear is even real to begin with. Sometimes, we tend to exaggerate the fears in our mind, making it bigger than it actually is.
Perhaps, it doesn’t need to be a big deal.
Though, if it truly is an innate fear, acknowledge that it is, and understand your relation to it.
Fears are absolutely normal and okay – we all have them! By first acknowledging that it exists, we can take action towards overcoming it.
2. Flip the perspective
Sometimes we need to flip our perspective and step outside of our current reality.
Look ahead:
Can you see yourself on the other side of your fear? What does that reality look like?
Ask yourself:
- How many opportunities will be available to me?
- If I could face this fear, what would I have instead?
We can easily get engrossed in fear-based thoughts and forget what we’re actually trying to achieve – usually a better life and accomplishing our dreams! Let’s not let fear get in the way of that.
By focusing on what we can gain instead of the process itself, we can stay motivated to reach that bigger end goal. This also lets us see the fear as nothing more than a guide that will result in our own success.
Embracing the fear is a signal that you’re ready to grow beyond what you’re comfortable with.
3. Set goals to overcome the fear
Now that you are aware of the fear you have, you can set goals to overcome it.
Here are some journal prompts you can use to make your own plan and timeline regarding overcoming your fear.
Where do you want to be:
…In one year?
…In 6 months?
…In 3 months?
…In 1 month?
…In 2 weeks?
…by the end of this week?
…by the end of today?
By when do you want to overcome this fear?
4. Take small actions
Now that you have a plan, it’s important to not overwhelm yourself. You can start with just one small action that works towards your fear.
As you get more comfortable and confident, take one more step forward.
For example, if you’re trying to become a better public speaker, here’s what this might look like. Start by practicing in the shower every day. When you’re ready, practice in front of one friend that you trust. Then, two friends. Then, five friends. After that, speak in front of a small group. One tiny action, one step at a time.
You don’t need all the answers or all the bells and whistles at the beginning. Take small actions consistently, and you’ll get to your goal.
5. Stay in your own lane
One of the things that keeps our fear on high alert is seeing others accomplish what we want. Though, this can be triggering and does not always serve us.
If we set a bar for ourselves based on others’ success or accomplishments, the more unnecessary pressure we put on ourselves!
Stop comparing and focus on your own journey. Stay in your own lane.
6. Create over consume
No matter what fear you’re facing, make sure you’re creating more than you’re consuming!
By this, I mean: you already know what you need to do. So do it!
At some point, reading all the books or consuming all the content in the world regarding your fear is no longer going to help. You’ll need to create, you’ll need to take action.
Let yourself learn by doing. It’s the best and quickest way to conquer anything!
7. Stop overthinking
The more we obsess over what others will think, the more we keep ourselves stuck.
When you find yourself spending more than a minute dreaming about what could go wrong, or what others might think, redirect yourself and instead take action.
One small action. Let that be your antidote to overthinking.
8. Remember that failure is only feedback
At the end of the day, all the actions we take simply results in feedback.
Failure is feedback. Nothing more. It doesn’t define you, nor should it stop you from moving forward.
We can choose to remove failure from our vocabulary, and instead acknowledge that we can learn from everything we do.
9. Stretch yourself
As you courageously move towards crushing your fear, remember to keep stretching yourself.
How can you test your comfort zone every day? How far can you actually go?
Personally, one fear that I have danced with is public speaking.
Much like the example above, I started by doing presentations to myself in the mirror. Then slowly, I presented in front of one person, then another, and another, until that became larger groups.
Today, I can confidently and happily hop onto a stage in front of 1000+ people. I adore speaking at conferences and found a passion in inspiring others. This, I would have never known if I hadn’t simply started.
I started slow and I stretched myself every single day until I reached my goal. Then I continued stretching until that fear no longer existed in my life.
Remember, keep stretching. Explore all of your potential. You never know where your fears might lead you.
Conclusion
Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the action in the face of fear. ~ Mark Messier
You have everything within you to bravely overcome your fears. Be kind to yourself, take one step at a time, and always focus on the end goal.
Keep that vision clear about who you want to become. Don’t let anything stop you – fears included. You’ve got this!
Which fear are you ready to overcome?
Leave a comment below!
PIN FOR LATER
